se tourner les pouces

verb

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

The verdict

“se tourner les pouces” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
21
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Être oisif, rester à ne rien faire.

Key facts for se tourner les pouces
PropertyValue
Headwordse tourner les pouces
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
Letters21
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “se tourner les pouces” sits in French frequency

se tourner les pouces 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

se tourner les pouces is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Être oisif, rester à ne rien faire.".

No misspelling variants are generated for se tourner les pouces in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is se tourner les pouces, spelled S-E- -T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -L-E-S- -P-O-U-C-E-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Être oisif, rester à ne rien faire.

This word in other languages

twiddle one's thumbs(English)

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 "se tourner les pouces"?
"se tourner les pouces" is spelled S-E- -T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -L-E-S- -P-O-U-C-E-S.
What does "se tourner les pouces" mean?
As a verb, "se tourner les pouces" means: Être oisif, rester à ne rien faire.
What language does "se tourner les pouces" come from?
"se tourner les pouces" 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 “se tourner les pouces”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is S-E- -T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -L-E-S- -P-O-U-C-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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