tomber en panne

verb

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

The verdict

“tomber en panne” 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
15
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Arriver dans une situation où un outil ou un véhicule ne fonctionne plus par manque de carburant où à cause de batteries vides, ou encore doit être réparé.

Key facts for tomber en panne
PropertyValue
Headwordtomber en panne
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tomber en panne” sits in French frequency

tomber en panne 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.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for tomber en panne is 15 letters long, classified as a verb. 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: "Arriver dans une situation où un outil ou un véhicule ne fonctionne plus par manque de carburant où à cause de batteries vides, ou encore doit être réparé.".

tomber en panne has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is tomber en panne, spelled T-O-M-B-E-R- -E-N- -P-A-N-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Arriver dans une situation où un outil ou un véhicule ne fonctionne plus par manque de carburant où à cause de batteries vides, ou encore doit être réparé.

Synonyms

défaillir

This word in other languages

break down(English)descomponerse(Español)streiken(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 "tomber en panne"?
"tomber en panne" is spelled T-O-M-B-E-R- -E-N- -P-A-N-N-E.
What does "tomber en panne" mean?
As a verb, "tomber en panne" means: Arriver dans une situation où un outil ou un véhicule ne fonctionne plus par manque de carburant où à cause de batteries vides, ou encore doit être réparé.
What language does "tomber en panne" come from?
"tomber en panne" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 “tomber en panne”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is T-O-M-B-E-R- -E-N- -P-A-N-N-E - 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list