tourner en rond

\tuʁ.ne ɑ̃ ʁɔ̃\

/\tuʁ.ne ɑ̃ ʁɔ̃\/ verb

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

The verdict

“tourner en rond” 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) - Marcher sans cesse en faisant le tour de quelque chose, sous l’effet de l’attente, du stress.

Key facts for tourner en rond
PropertyValue
Headwordtourner en rond
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\tuʁ.ne ɑ̃ ʁɔ̃\
Letters15
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tourner en rond” sits in French frequency

tourner en rond 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 tourner en rond is 15 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tuʁ.ne ɑ̃ ʁɔ̃\. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tourner en rond, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is tourner en rond, spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -E-N- -R-O-N-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Marcher sans cesse en faisant le tour de quelque chose, sous l’effet de l’attente, du stress.
  2. 2
    Perdre son temps ; ne pas avancer ; toujours faire la même chose et ne pas savoir quoi faire pour en sortir ; ne pas voir d’issue à une situation.

Synonyms

faire les cent passtagner

This word in other languages

chase one's tail(English)herumirren(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 "tourner en rond"?
"tourner en rond" is spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -E-N- -R-O-N-D. The IPA pronunciation is \tuʁ.ne ɑ̃ ʁɔ̃\.
What does "tourner en rond" mean?
As a verb, "tourner en rond" means: Marcher sans cesse en faisant le tour de quelque chose, sous l’effet de l’attente, du stress.
How do you pronounce "tourner en rond"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tourner en rond" is \tuʁ.ne ɑ̃ ʁɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tourner en rond" come from?
"tourner en rond" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 “tourner en rond”

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

  • The one correct French spelling is T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -E-N- -R-O-N-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \tuʁ.ne ɑ̃ ʁɔ̃\ (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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list