rétrograder
\ʁe.tʁo.ɡʁa.de\
The verdict
“rétrograder” is an uncommon French word, ranked #56,906 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #56,906
- frequency rank, French
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Retourner en arrière.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | rétrograder |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ʁe.tʁo.ɡʁa.de\ |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #56,906 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “rétrograder” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for rétrograder is 11 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ʁe.tʁo.ɡʁa.de\. Corpus data places it at rank #56,906 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for rétrograder in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is rétrograder, spelled R-É-T-R-O-G-R-A-D-E-R.
Definition
- 1Retourner en arrière.
- 2Paraître aller en sens inverse des signes du zodiaque, en parlant des corps célestes.
- 3Passer à une vitesse inférieure.
- 4Perdre la progression antérieure, diminuer d'intensité.
- 5Affecter à un poste ou à un grade inférieur.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “rétrograder”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is R-É-T-R-O-G-R-A-D-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ʁe.tʁo.ɡʁa.de\ (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.