esmerar

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Vulgar Latin *exmerāre (“to purify”), from Latin ex merēre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [esmeˈɾaɾ]

Verb

esmerar (first-person singular present esmero, first-person singular preterite esmerei, past participle esmerado)

1. (transitive) to clean, purify
   • c. 1300, R. Martínez López, editor, General Estoria. Versión gallega del siglo XIV, Oviedo: Archivum, page 271:

     cõmo faz a lyma ao ferro, et a fornaz ao ouro que o purga et esmera et o faz puro et paresçe mellor, et cõmo faz outrosi o máále áá messe que a degrana em çeueyra et parte a palla do graão que e o mellor

     as the file does to iron, and the furnace to gold, that purges and cleans it and makes it pure and looks better; and also as the flail does to the harvest, that threshes it into sustenance and parts the straw and the grain, which is the best part

2. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to work with effort and dedication

Conjugation

    Conjugation of esmerar

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti)	Third-person (el / ela / Vde.)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / Vdes.)
Infinitive
Impersonal	esmerar
Personal	esmerar	esmerares	esmerar	esmerarmos	esmerardes	esmeraren
Gerund
	esmerando
Past participle
Masculine	esmerado			esmerados
Feminine	esmerada			esmeradas
Indicative
Present	esmero	esmeras	esmera	esmeramos	esmerades	esmeran
Imperfect	esmeraba	esmerabas	esmeraba	esmerabamos	esmerabades	esmeraban
Preterite	esmerei	esmeraches	esmerou	esmeramos	esmerastes	esmeraron
Pluperfect	esmerara	esmeraras	esmerara	esmeraramos	esmerarades	esmeraran
Future	esmerarei	esmerarás	esmerará	esmeraremos	esmeraredes	esmerarán
Conditional	esmeraría	esmerarías	esmeraría	esmerariamos	esmerariades	esmerarían
Subjunctive
Present	esmere	esmeres	esmere	esmeremos	esmeredes	esmeren
Imperfect	esmerase	esmerases	esmerase	esmerásemos	esmerásedes	esmerasen
Future	esmerar	esmerares	esmerar	esmerarmos	esmerardes	esmeraren
Imperative
Affirmative		esmera	esmere	esmeremos	esmerade	esmeren
Negative (non)		non esmeres	non esmere	non esmeremos	non esmeredes	non esmeren

    Reintegrated conjugation of esmerar (See Appendix:Reintegrationism)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (ti / tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	esmerar
Personal	esmerar	esmerares	esmerar	esmerarmos	esmerardes	esmerarem
Gerund
	esmerando
Past participle
Masculine	esmerado			esmerados
Feminine	esmerada			esmeradas
Indicative
Present	esmero	esmeras	esmera	esmeramos	esmerades, esmerais	esmeram
Imperfect	esmerava	esmeravas	esmerava	esmerávamos	esmerávades, esmeráveis, esmerávais1	esmeravam
Preterite	esmerei	esmeraste, esmerache1	esmerou	esmeramos	esmerastes	esmerárom, esmeraram
Pluperfect	esmerara	esmeraras	esmerara	esmeráramos	esmerárades, esmeráreis, esmerárais1	esmeraram
Future	esmerarei	esmerarás	esmerará	esmeraremos	esmeraredes, esmerareis	esmerarám, esmerarão
Conditional	esmeraria	esmerarias	esmeraria	esmeraríamos	esmeraríades, esmeraríeis, esmeraríais1	esmerariam
Subjunctive
Present	esmere	esmeres	esmere	esmeremos	esmeredes, esmereis	esmerem
Imperfect	esmerasse	esmerasses	esmerasse	esmerássemos	esmerássedes, esmerásseis	esmerassem
Future	esmerar	esmerares	esmerar	esmerarmos	esmerardes	esmerarem
Imperative
Affirmative		esmera	esmere	esmeremos	esmerade, esmerai	esmerem
Negative (nom)		nom esmeres	nom esmere	nom esmeremos	nom esmeredes, nom esmereis	nom esmerem

¹Less recommended.

Derived terms

• esmerado
• esmero

References

• “esmerar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “esmer” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “esmerar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “esmerar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, since 2012
• “esmerar” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.

Portuguese

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *exmerāre (“to purify”), from Latin ex merēre. Compare Spanish esmerar.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /iz.meˈɾa(ʁ)/ [iz.meˈɾa(h)], /ez.meˈɾa(ʁ)/ [ez.meˈɾa(h)]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /iz.meˈɾa(ʁ)/ [iz.meˈɾa(h)], /ez.meˈɾa(ʁ)/ [ez.meˈɾa(h)]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /iz.meˈɾa(ɾ)/, /ez.meˈɾa(ɾ)/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /iʒ.meˈɾa(ʁ)/ [iʒ.meˈɾa(χ)], /eʒ.meˈɾa(ʁ)/ [eʒ.meˈɾa(χ)]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ez.meˈɾa(ɻ)/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʒ.mɨˈɾaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʒ.mɨˈɾaɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /(i)ʒ.mɨˈɾa.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: es‧me‧rar

Verb

esmerar (first-person singular present esmero, first-person singular preterite esmerei, past participle esmerado)

1. to hone (to refine or master a skill)

   Synonyms: aperfeiçoar, apurar

Conjugation

    Conjugation of esmerar (See Appendix:Portuguese verbs)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	esmerar
Personal	esmerar	esmerares	esmerar	esmerarmos	esmerardes	esmerarem
Gerund
	esmerando
Past participle
Masculine	esmerado			esmerados
Feminine	esmerada			esmeradas
Indicative
Present	esmero	esmeras	esmera	esmeramos	esmerais	esmeram
Imperfect	esmerava	esmeravas	esmerava	esmerávamos	esmeráveis	esmeravam
Preterite	esmerei	esmeraste	esmerou	esmeramos1, esmerámos2	esmerastes	esmeraram
Pluperfect	esmerara	esmeraras	esmerara	esmeráramos	esmeráreis	esmeraram
Future	esmerarei	esmerarás	esmerará	esmeraremos	esmerareis	esmerarão
Conditional	esmeraria	esmerarias	esmeraria	esmeraríamos	esmeraríeis	esmerariam
Subjunctive
Present	esmere	esmeres	esmere	esmeremos	esmereis	esmerem
Imperfect	esmerasse	esmerasses	esmerasse	esmerássemos	esmerásseis	esmerassem
Future	esmerar	esmerares	esmerar	esmerarmos	esmerardes	esmerarem
Imperative
Affirmative		esmera	esmere	esmeremos	esmerai	esmerem
Negative (não)		não esmeres	não esmere	não esmeremos	não esmereis	não esmerem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Derived terms

• esmero

Further reading

• “esmerar” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “esmerar” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *exmerāre (“to purify”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /esmeˈɾaɾ/ [ez.meˈɾaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: es‧me‧rar

Verb

esmerar (first-person singular present esmero, first-person singular preterite esmeré, past participle esmerado)

1. (transitive) to clean

   Synonyms: pulir, limpiar, ilustrar

2. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to hone, to painstakingly do something

Conjugation

    Conjugation of esmerar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

infinitive			esmerar
gerund			esmerando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		esmerado		esmerada
		plural		esmerados		esmeradas
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	esmero	esmerastú esmerásvos	esmera	esmeramos	esmeráis	esmeran
	imperfect	esmeraba	esmerabas	esmeraba	esmerábamos	esmerabais	esmeraban
	preterite	esmeré	esmeraste	esmeró	esmeramos	esmerasteis	esmeraron
	future	esmeraré	esmerarás	esmerará	esmeraremos	esmeraréis	esmerarán
	conditional	esmeraría	esmerarías	esmeraría	esmeraríamos	esmeraríais	esmerarían
subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	esmere	esmerestú esmerésvos2	esmere	esmeremos	esmeréis	esmeren
	imperfect (ra)	esmerara	esmeraras	esmerara	esmeráramos	esmerarais	esmeraran
	imperfect (se)	esmerase	esmerases	esmerase	esmerásemos	esmeraseis	esmerasen
	future1	esmerare	esmerares	esmerare	esmeráremos	esmerareis	esmeraren
imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		esmeratú esmerávos	esmere	esmeremos	esmerad	esmeren
	negative		no esmeres	no esmere	no esmeremos	no esmeréis	no esmeren

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

    Selected combined forms of esmerar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive esmerar
	dative	esmerarme	esmerarte	esmerarle, esmerarse	esmerarnos	esmeraros	esmerarles, esmerarse
	accusative	esmerarme	esmerarte	esmerarlo, esmerarla, esmerarse	esmerarnos	esmeraros	esmerarlos, esmerarlas, esmerarse
with gerund esmerando
	dative	esmerándome	esmerándote	esmerándole, esmerándose	esmerándonos	esmerándoos	esmerándoles, esmerándose
	accusative	esmerándome	esmerándote	esmerándolo, esmerándola, esmerándose	esmerándonos	esmerándoos	esmerándolos, esmerándolas, esmerándose
with informal second-person singular tú imperative esmera
	dative	esmérame	esmérate	esmérale	esméranos	not used	esmérales
	accusative	esmérame	esmérate	esméralo, esmérala	esméranos	not used	esméralos, esméralas
with informal second-person singular vos imperative esmerá
	dative	esmerame	esmerate	esmerale	esmeranos	not used	esmerales
	accusative	esmerame	esmerate	esmeralo, esmerala	esmeranos	not used	esmeralos, esmeralas
with formal second-person singular imperative esmere
	dative	esméreme	not used	esmérele, esmérese	esmérenos	not used	esméreles
	accusative	esméreme	not used	esmérelo, esmérela, esmérese	esmérenos	not used	esmérelos, esmérelas
with first-person plural imperative esmeremos
	dative	not used	esmerémoste	esmerémosle	esmerémonos	esmerémoos	esmerémosles
	accusative	not used	esmerémoste	esmerémoslo, esmerémosla	esmerémonos	esmerémoos	esmerémoslos, esmerémoslas
with informal second-person plural imperative esmerad
	dative	esmeradme	not used	esmeradle	esmeradnos	esmeraos	esmeradles
	accusative	esmeradme	not used	esmeradlo, esmeradla	esmeradnos	esmeraos	esmeradlos, esmeradlas
with formal second-person plural imperative esmeren
	dative	esmérenme	not used	esmérenle	esmérennos	not used	esmérenles, esmérense
	accusative	esmérenme	not used	esmérenlo, esmérenla	esmérennos	not used	esmérenlos, esmérenlas, esmérense

Derived terms

• esmerado
• esmerarse
• esmero

 

Further reading

• “esmerar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014