tourner le dos

\tuʁ.ne lə do\

/\tuʁ.ne lə do\/ verb

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

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
14
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Se retourner, présenter le dos à quelqu’un.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tourner-le-dos · tourner le dos · French

tourner le dos · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 14 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "T" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for tourner le dos
PropertyValue
Headwordtourner le dos
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\tuʁ.ne lə do\
Letters14
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “tourner le dos” sits in French frequency

tourner le dos 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

tourner le dos is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \tuʁ.ne lə do\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for tourner le dos, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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.

No documented word history exists for this headword, 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 tourner le dos, spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -L-E- -D-O-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Se retourner, présenter le dos à quelqu’un.
  2. 2
    Fuir.
  3. 3
    Aller dans le sens opposé à la destination voulue.
  4. 4
    Quitter quelqu’un et le laisser là par mépris, par indignation, ou lorsqu’on abandonne ses intérêts.
  5. 5
    S’en aller.
  6. 6
    Finir ; terminer.

Synonyms

mettre fin

Antonyms

faire face

This word in other languages

den Rücken kehren(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.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tourner le dos"?
"tourner le dos" is spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -L-E- -D-O-S. The IPA pronunciation is \tuʁ.ne lə do\.
What does "tourner le dos" mean?
As a verb, "tourner le dos" means: Se retourner, présenter le dos à quelqu’un.
How do you pronounce "tourner le dos"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tourner le dos" is \tuʁ.ne lə do\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tourner le dos" come from?
"tourner le dos" 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.
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