tourner les talons

\tuʁ.ne le ta.lɔ̃\

/\tuʁ.ne le ta.lɔ̃\/ verb

The verdict

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

Unranked
below top-frequency French
18
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Faire demi-tour ; s’en aller.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tourner-les-talons · tourner les talons · French

tourner les talons · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 18 letters
  • VOW-6 6 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 les talons
PropertyValue
Headwordtourner les talons
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\tuʁ.ne le ta.lɔ̃\
Letters18
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « tourner les talons » en français

tourner les talonsreste hors des 100.000 mots français les plus fréquents, dans la longue queue du vocabulaire technique, archaïque ou rare, là où le doute d'orthographe frappe.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

tourner les talons is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \tuʁ.ne le ta.lɔ̃\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Faire demi-tour ; s’en aller.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for tourner les talons, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is tourner les talons, spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -L-E-S- -T-A-L-O-N-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Faire demi-tour ; s’en aller.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how tourner les talons appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Ayant dit, M. de Bernage tourna les talons et se lança sur la longue esplanade plantée d'arbres qui borde la colonnade latérale de l'église.
  2. Il serait compréhensible, il serait humain que Stanley tournât les talons. On ne pourrait rien lui reprocher.

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "tourner les talons"?
"tourner les talons" is spelled T-O-U-R-N-E-R- -L-E-S- -T-A-L-O-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is \tuʁ.ne le ta.lɔ̃\.
What does "tourner les talons" mean?
As a verb, "tourner les talons" means: Faire demi-tour ; s’en aller.
How do you pronounce "tourner les talons"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tourner les talons" is \tuʁ.ne le ta.lɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tourner les talons" come from?
"tourner les talons" 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list