prendre la poudre d’escampette
\pʁɑ̃dʁ la pudʁ dɛs.kɑ̃.pɛt\
The verdict
“prendre la poudre d’escampette” is outside the top-ranked French vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 30
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - S’enfuir ; se sauver à toutes jambes.
| 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) |
Where “prendre la poudre d’escampette” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for prendre la poudre d’escampette is 30 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pʁɑ̃dʁ la pudʁ dɛs.kɑ̃.pɛt\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "prendre la poudre d’escampette"?
What does "prendre la poudre d’escampette" mean?
How do you pronounce "prendre la poudre d’escampette"?
What language does "prendre la poudre d’escampette" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “prendre la poudre d’escampette”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is 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 - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pʁɑ̃dʁ la pudʁ dɛs.kɑ̃.pɛt\ (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.