effleurer

French

Etymology

From Middle French effleurer, from Old French esflourer, equivalent to ex- (“ex-”) +‎ fleurer (“sprinkle”). In some senses, from Middle French fleur (“surface, top layer”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *flōr (“ground, floor”), from Proto-Germanic *flōraz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.flœ.ʁe/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

effleurer

1. to stroke gently, to touch lightly

   Synonym: caresser

2. to brush over, to brush past
3. (figuratively) to skim over (a subject)

Conjugation

Conjugation of effleurer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	effleurer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	effleurant /e.flœ.ʁɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		effleuré /e.flœ.ʁe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	effleure /e.flœʁ/	effleures /e.flœʁ/	effleure /e.flœʁ/	effleurons /e.flœ.ʁɔ̃/	effleurez /e.flœ.ʁe/	effleurent /e.flœʁ/
	imperfect	effleurais /e.flœ.ʁɛ/	effleurais /e.flœ.ʁɛ/	effleurait /e.flœ.ʁɛ/	effleurions /e.flœ.ʁjɔ̃/	effleuriez /e.flœ.ʁje/	effleuraient /e.flœ.ʁɛ/
	past historic2	effleurai /e.flœ.ʁe/	effleuras /e.flœ.ʁa/	effleura /e.flœ.ʁa/	effleurâmes /e.flœ.ʁam/	effleurâtes /e.flœ.ʁat/	effleurèrent /e.flœ.ʁɛʁ/
	future	effleurerai /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁe/	effleureras /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁa/	effleurera /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁa/	effleurerons /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/	effleurerez /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁe/	effleureront /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	effleurerais /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁɛ/	effleurerais /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁɛ/	effleurerait /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁɛ/	effleurerions /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/	effleureriez /e.flœ.ʁə.ʁje/	effleureraient /e.flœ.ʁə.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	effleure /e.flœʁ/	effleures /e.flœʁ/	effleure /e.flœʁ/	effleurions /e.flœ.ʁjɔ̃/	effleuriez /e.flœ.ʁje/	effleurent /e.flœʁ/
	imperfect2	effleurasse /e.flœ.ʁas/	effleurasses /e.flœ.ʁas/	effleurât /e.flœ.ʁa/	effleurassions /e.flœ.ʁa.sjɔ̃/	effleurassiez /e.flœ.ʁa.sje/	effleurassent /e.flœ.ʁas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	effleure /e.flœʁ/	—	effleurons /e.flœ.ʁɔ̃/	effleurez /e.flœ.ʁe/	—
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).

Descendants

• → English: efflower

Further reading

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