retour en arrière

\ʁə.tu.ʁ‿ɑ̃.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\

/\ʁə.tu.ʁ‿ɑ̃.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“retour en arrière” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
17
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Rupture de la continuité chronologique d’une action par l’évocation d’une période antérieure.

Key facts for retour en arrière
PropertyValue
Headwordretour en arrière
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ʁə.tu.ʁ‿ɑ̃.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\
Letters17
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “retour en arrière” sits in French frequency

retour en arrière 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

retour en arrière is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \ʁə.tu.ʁ‿ɑ̃.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

retour en arrière has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, 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 retour en arrière, spelled R-E-T-O-U-R- -E-N- -A-R-R-I-È-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rupture de la continuité chronologique d’une action par l’évocation d’une période antérieure.
  2. 2
    Possibilité de revenir à l’état antérieur d’un système informatique à partir d’une sauvegarde.

Synonyms

flash backflashbackanalepserollback

Antonyms

flashforward

This word in other languages

flashback(English)Rückblende(Deutsch)

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 "retour en arrière"?
"retour en arrière" is spelled R-E-T-O-U-R- -E-N- -A-R-R-I-È-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ʁə.tu.ʁ‿ɑ̃.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\.
What does "retour en arrière" mean?
As a noun, "retour en arrière" means: Rupture de la continuité chronologique d’une action par l’évocation d’une période antérieure.
How do you pronounce "retour en arrière"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "retour en arrière" is \ʁə.tu.ʁ‿ɑ̃.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "retour en arrière" come from?
"retour en arrière" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 “retour en arrière”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is R-E-T-O-U-R- -E-N- -A-R-R-I-È-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \ʁə.tu.ʁ‿ɑ̃.n‿a.ʁjɛʁ\ (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