prendre la poudre d’escampette
\pʁɑ̃dʁ la pudʁ dɛs.kɑ̃.pɛt\
The verdict
“prendre la poudre d’escampette” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 30
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - S’enfuir ; se sauver à toutes jambes.
Corpus desk
Index FR-prendre-la-poudre-d-esca · prendre la poudre d’escampette · French
prendre la poudre d’escampette · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 30 letters
- VOW-10 10 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 | prendre la poudre d’escampette |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \pʁɑ̃dʁ la pudʁ dɛs.kɑ̃.pɛt\ |
| Letters | 30 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « prendre la poudre d’escampette » en français
Rare enough to double-check
prendre la poudre d’escampette is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \pʁɑ̃dʁ la pudʁ dɛs.kɑ̃.pɛt\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "S’enfuir ; se sauver à toutes jambes.".
Zero misspellings are on record for prendre la poudre d’escampette in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
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 prendre la poudre d’escampette, spelled P-R-E-N-D-R-E- -L-A- -P-O-U-D-R-E- -D-’-E-S-C-A-M-P-E-T-T-E.
Definition
- 1S’enfuir ; se sauver à toutes jambes.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how prendre la poudre d’escampette appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
De nos quatre échevins, l’un était mort, deux avaient fui ; et le procureur avait pris la poudre d’escampette.
[…], et, petit à petit, sans bien sûr interrompre leur feu qui cependant faiblissait, les fascistes ont pris la poudre d’escampette, et les derniers assez vite pour que l’envie de courir après ne nous prît pas.
Synonyms
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.