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réinventer la roue

French, verb/ʁe.ɛ̃.vɑ̃.te la ʁu/

réinventer la roue is a French verb meaning “to reinvent the wheel (to attempt to devise a solution to a problem when a solution already exists; to do work unnecessarily when it has…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Repenser la conception de quelque chose alors que cela a déjà été fait sous une forme similaire”.

What does réinventer la roue mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to reinvent the wheel (to attempt to devise a solution to a problem when a solution already exists; to do work unnecessarily when it has already been done satisfactorily by others)

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

verb: 1. Repenser la conception de quelque chose alors que cela a déjà été fait sous une forme similaire.

The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.

Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.

How do you pronounce réinventer la roue?

  • /ʁe.ɛ̃.vɑ̃.te la ʁu/

Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.