égrener

French

Etymology

From é- + grain + -er.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /e.ɡʁə.ne/
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Verb

égrener

  1. to shell, pod (maize, peas, wheat etc.)
    Synonym: écosser
  2. to gin (cotton)
  3. to ripple (flax)
  4. (reflexive) to drop off the stalk or bunch
  5. (figurative) to dish out
  6. (figurative) to rattle off, go through (a list), tick away (time)
    • 1973, Claude Simon, Tryptique, Éditions de Minuit, page 12:
      Les sons de la cloche égrenant les quarts, les demies et les heures []
      The sounds of the clock rattling off the quarters, the halves and the hours []
    • 2000, Jean-François Parot, L'énigme des Blancs-Manteaux, JC Lattès, published 2012, page 12:
      Il chut de tout son long, égrenant à nouveau un chapelet d'horribles jurons.
      He fell full length, reeling off another string of appalling curses.
    • 2002, “Tous mes vœux”, in La Femme Trombone, performed by Les Rita Mitsouko:
      Je pleure et fête la perte de l'ovule / Cette mort minuscule / Sereine / Qu'égrène / Le fil du temps
      I cry over, and celebrate, a lost ovum / This tiny death / Serene / That grinds away / The course of time

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated mostly like the regular -er verbs (parler and chanter and so on), but the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-. For example, in the third-person singular present indicative, we have il égrène rather than *il égrene. Other verbs conjugated this way include lever and mener. Related but distinct conjugations include those of appeler and préférer.

Derived terms

  • égrenage

Further reading

Anagrams

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