perdre son temps

\pɛʁ.dʁə sɔ̃ tɑ̃\

/\pɛʁ.dʁə sɔ̃ tɑ̃\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“perdre son temps” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
16
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Être occupé à faire quelque chose sans résultats conséquents.

Key facts for perdre son temps
PropertyValue
Headwordperdre son temps
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɛʁ.dʁə sɔ̃ tɑ̃\
Letters16
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “perdre son temps” sits in French frequency

perdre son temps falls outside the top-100,000 ranked French words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

perdre son temps is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pɛʁ.dʁə sɔ̃ tɑ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for perdre son temps, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is perdre son temps, spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -S-O-N- -T-E-M-P-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Être occupé à faire quelque chose sans résultats conséquents.
  2. 2
    Paresser, glander, ne rien faire.

Synonyms

perdre sa jeunessepasser le temps

This word in other languages

waste time(English)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "perdre son temps"?
"perdre son temps" is spelled P-E-R-D-R-E- -S-O-N- -T-E-M-P-S. The IPA pronunciation is \pɛʁ.dʁə sɔ̃ tɑ̃\.
What does "perdre son temps" mean?
As a verb, "perdre son temps" means: Être occupé à faire quelque chose sans résultats conséquents.
How do you pronounce "perdre son temps"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "perdre son temps" is \pɛʁ.dʁə sɔ̃ tɑ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "perdre son temps" come from?
"perdre son temps" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “perdre son temps”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is P-E-R-D-R-E- -S-O-N- -T-E-M-P-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \pɛʁ.dʁə sɔ̃ tɑ̃\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list