échappez

Échappez is a French verb form derived from échapper, meaning to escape or slip away. It can function as the second-person plural present indicative, vous échappez, meaning you escape or you are escaping, and as the imperative form for the same person, Échappez!, meaning Escape! The infinitive is échapper and the past participle is échappé.

In ordinary French, échapper can take the preposition à to indicate avoidance, as in escaping from a danger or a difficult situation. The phrase échappez à can appear in commands or guidance, such as alerts to flee or avoid a trap or risk. The verb also appears in sensations of eluding capture or blame, as in various idiomatic expressions.

The word is often contrasted with the ballet term échappé (with an acute e and no final z), which is a specific movement in which a dancer slides from a closed to an open position while keeping both feet on the floor. Although they share a root and a related sense of slipping away, échappé in ballet functions as a technical term, distinct from the general verb forms of échapper.

Other related forms include the reflexive s’échapper (to escape oneself), and related nouns such as échappement (escape, evasion) and échappé (the ballet term, or a past participle meaning escaped). Échappez, as a form, is primarily encountered in French conjugation or as a directive in written or spoken instruction.