blanchir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French blanchir, from Vulgar Latin *blancīre, a verb based on Frankish *blank.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɑ̃.ʃiʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

blanchir

1. to launder, wash

   Blanchir du linge.

   To wash linen.

2. to make white; to whiten

   La neige a blanchis les toits.

   The snow whitens the roofs.

3. to grow or become white

   Les cheveux blanchissent avec l’âge.

   Hair whitens with age.

4. to blanch or bleach

   Elle a blanchis quand elle a entendu les nouvelles.

   She blanched when she heard the news.

5. (money) to launder
6. to whitewash (to cover over errors or bad actions)

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of blanchir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	blanchir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	blanchissant /blɑ̃.ʃi.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		blanchi /blɑ̃.ʃi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	blanchis /blɑ̃.ʃi/	blanchis /blɑ̃.ʃi/	blanchit /blɑ̃.ʃi/	blanchissons /blɑ̃.ʃi.sɔ̃/	blanchissez /blɑ̃.ʃi.se/	blanchissent /blɑ̃.ʃis/
	imperfect	blanchissais /blɑ̃.ʃi.sɛ/	blanchissais /blɑ̃.ʃi.sɛ/	blanchissait /blɑ̃.ʃi.sɛ/	blanchissions /blɑ̃.ʃi.sjɔ̃/	blanchissiez /blɑ̃.ʃi.sje/	blanchissaient /blɑ̃.ʃi.sɛ/
	past historic2	blanchis /blɑ̃.ʃi/	blanchis /blɑ̃.ʃi/	blanchit /blɑ̃.ʃi/	blanchîmes /blɑ̃.ʃim/	blanchîtes /blɑ̃.ʃit/	blanchirent /blɑ̃.ʃiʁ/
	future	blanchirai /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁe/	blanchiras /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁa/	blanchira /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁa/	blanchirons /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁɔ̃/	blanchirez /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁe/	blanchiront /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	blanchirais /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁɛ/	blanchirais /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁɛ/	blanchirait /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁɛ/	blanchirions /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁjɔ̃/	blanchiriez /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁje/	blanchiraient /blɑ̃.ʃi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	blanchisse /blɑ̃.ʃis/	blanchisses /blɑ̃.ʃis/	blanchisse /blɑ̃.ʃis/	blanchissions /blɑ̃.ʃi.sjɔ̃/	blanchissiez /blɑ̃.ʃi.sje/	blanchissent /blɑ̃.ʃis/
	imperfect2	blanchisse /blɑ̃.ʃis/	blanchisses /blɑ̃.ʃis/	blanchît /blɑ̃.ʃi/	blanchissions /blɑ̃.ʃi.sjɔ̃/	blanchissiez /blɑ̃.ʃi.sje/	blanchissent /blɑ̃.ʃis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	blanchis /blɑ̃.ʃi/	—	blanchissons /blɑ̃.ʃi.sɔ̃/	blanchissez /blɑ̃.ʃi.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• blanchir sous le harnais
• blanchir sous le harnois
• blanchissement
• blanchissment

 

Descendants

• → German: blanchieren

Further reading

• “blanchir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *blancīre, a verb based on Frankish *blank.

Verb

blanchir

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a second-group verb (ending in -ir, with an -iss- infix). Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of blanchir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		blanchir			avoir blanchi
gerund		en blanchissant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		blanchissant
past participle		blanchi
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	blanchis	blanchis	blanchist	blanchissons	blanchissez	blanchissent
	imperfect	blanchissoie, blanchisseie	blanchissoies, blanchisseies	blanchissoit, blanchisseit	blanchissiiens, blanchissiens	blanchissiiez, blanchissiez	blanchissoient, blanchisseient
	preterite	blanchi	blanchis	blanchi	blanchimes	blanchistes	blanchirent
	future	blanchirai	blanchiras	blanchira	blanchirons	blanchiroiz, blanchireiz, blanchirez	blanchiront
	conditional	blanchiroie, blanchireie	blanchiroies, blanchireies	blanchiroit, blanchireit	blanchiriiens, blanchiriens	blanchiriiez, blanchiriez	blanchiroient, blanchireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	blanchisse	blanchisses	blanchisse	blanchissons	blanchissez	blanchissent
	imperfect	blanchisse	blanchisses	blanchist	blanchissons, blanchissiens	blanchissoiz, blanchissez, blanchissiez	blanchissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	blanchis	—	blanchissons	blanchissez	—

Descendants

• French: blanchir
• → Middle English: blaunchen
  • English: blanch