point de non-retour
\pwɛ̃ də nɔ̃.ʁə.tuʁ\
The verdict
“point de non-retour” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 19
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Moment où l’avion ne peut plus faire demi-tour pour cause de manque de carburant.
Corpus desk
Index FR-point-de-non-retour · point de non-retour · French
point de non-retour · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 19 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | point de non-retour |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pwɛ̃ də nɔ̃.ʁə.tuʁ\ |
| Letters | 19 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « point de non-retour » en français
Rare enough to double-check
point de non-retour is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \pwɛ̃ də nɔ̃.ʁə.tuʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
point de non-retour has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is point de non-retour, spelled P-O-I-N-T- -D-E- -N-O-N---R-E-T-O-U-R.
Definition
- 1Moment où l’avion ne peut plus faire demi-tour pour cause de manque de carburant.
- 2Moment à partir duquel il n’est plus possible d’arrêter une action en cours ou de revenir en arrière.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how point de non-retour appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Lorsque la distance encore parcourable avec le carburant restant est devenue inférieure à la distance de retour additionnée de la dérive réelle due aux vents, alors, le point de non-retour a été franchi, le reste du voyage est entièrement soumis aux aléas.
Le type qui écrit ce que j’écris ne peut pas revenir en arrière. Il a franchi le point de non-retour. Et ne pas pouvoir revenir en arrière, c’est une forme de progression.
This word in other languages
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.