passer

See also Passer, and pâsser

English

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈpɑːsə(r)/
• (US) IPA: /ˈpæsər/
• Rhymes: -æsə(r)

Noun

passer (plural passers)

1. (sports) Someone who passes, someone who makes a pass

   England coach Sven Göran Eriksson hailed midfielder David Beckham as possibly the best passer in the world. - BBC Sport - Eriksson salutes Beckham brilliance

   A fearless tackler in defence, Wilkinson is a fine passer and one of the most consistent goalkickers in world rugby. - BBC Sport - World Cup midfield generals - Jonny Wilkinson

2. (American football) A football player who makes a forward pass, who may be (but not limited to) the quarterback.
3. (archaic) One who passes; a passenger.

See also

• passer-by

Anagrams

• aspers
• parses
• repass
• spares
• sparse
• spaser
• spears, Spears

---

Danish

Etymology 1

From German Passer.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pasər/, [ˈpʰasɐ]

Noun

passer c (singular definite passeren, plural indefinite passere)

1. compass, pair of compasses
2. dividers
3. calipers

Inflection

    Inflection of passer

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative, dative and accusative	passer	passeren	passere	passerne
genitive	passers	passerens	passeres	passernes

See also

• Passer on the Danish Wikipedia.da.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

See passere (“to pass”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /paseːr/, [pʰaˈseɐ̯ˀ]

Verb

passer or passér

1. imperative of passere

---

Dutch

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

passer m (plural passers, diminutive passertje)

1. compass (device used with a pencil to draw an arc or circle on paper)

---

French

Etymology

From Old French < Vulgar Latin passāre, from Latin passus, supine of pando (“I stretch, I spread out”). Compare Italian passare, Spanish pasar, Portuguese passar.

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /pa.se/, /pɑ.se/, X-SAMPA: /pa.se/, /pA.se/

Verb

passer

1. (reflexive) to take place, to happen
2. to go past
3. to skip a go
4. to cross (a border)
5. (law) to pass

   passer une loi - to pass a law

6. to publish (a newspaper)
7. to take, to sit (an exam or test)

   J'ai réussi à l'examen que j'avais passé en avril. - I passed the exam that I took in April

8. to pass (an exam or test)
9. to exceed (a limit)
10. to percolate
11. to hand down, to pass on
12. (reflexive)(for time) to go by
13. to be allowed
14. to spend (time)

    J'ai passé les vacances en Espagne

    I spend the holidays in Spain

    J'ai passé une splendide soirée chez toi

    I had a great evening at yours

15. (intransitive) to pass, to go (between two entities)
    • 1908, Gaston Leroux, Le Mystère de la chambre jaune, 2009 ed., Wikisource, chap. 1

      L’assassin n’avait donc pas passé par là et ne pouvait se sauver par là [...]

      — The murderer, therefore, could not have entered that way and could not possibly escape that way. — 1908, anonymous, Margaret Jull Costa (ed.), The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 2003 ed., Dedalus, ISBN 1-873982-38-0

16. (transitive) to show (a movie)
17. to go up (a grade)
18. to shift (change gear)
    1. to go down
    2. to go up
19. to stop by, to pop in

    Je vais y passer demain pour mes affaires. - I'm going to stop by there tomorrow for my things

20. to pass away, to die
21. (music) to spin (e.g. a disk)
22. (TV) to show (be on television)
23. (sports) to pass (kick, throw, hit etc. the ball to another player)
24. (athletics) to pass (the relay baton)
25. to pass on (infect someone else with a disease)
26. (transitive) to put, to place, to slip (move a part of one's body somewhere else)
    • 1908, Gaston Leroux, Le Mystère de la chambre jaune, 2009 ed., Wikisource, chap. 1

      [...] et, par-dessus les volets, les barreaux intacts, des barreaux à travers lesquels vous n’auriez pas passé le bras…

      — [..] and, as well as those shutters, there were iron bars so close together that you could not even have got your arm through them. — 1908, anonymous, Margaret Jull Costa (ed.), The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 2003 ed., Dedalus, ISBN 1-873982-38-0

27. to wipe, rub

    Elle passe de la crème sur son ventre - She's rubbing cream on her belly

28. to put (make something undergo something)
29. (card games) to pass (not play upon one's turn)

Usage notes

When conjugating passer, compound tenses can be formed using either être or avoir as the auxiliary verb in the sense To pass, to pass by when passer is intransitive. For all other meanings, avoir is used.

Conjugation

   Conjugation of passer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		passer			avoir or être passé
gerund		en passant			en ayant passé or en étant passé
present participle		passant
past participle		passé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il	nous	vous	ils
simple tenses	present	passe	passes	passe	passons	passez	passent
	imperfect	passais	passais	passait	passions	passiez	passaient
	past historic1	passai	passas	passa	passâmes	passâtes	passèrent
	future	passerai	passeras	passera	passerons	passerez	passeront
	conditional	passerais	passerais	passerait	passerions	passeriez	passeraient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir or être followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir or être followed by the past participle
	past anterior1	Use the past historic tense of avoir or être followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir or être followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir or être followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il	que nous	que vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	passe	passes	passe	passions	passiez	passent
	imperfect1	passasse	passasses	passât	passassions	passassiez	passassent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir or être followed by the past participle
	pluperfect1	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir or être followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
		—	passe	—	passons	passez	—
1literary tenses

Derived terms

dépasser repasser passer à passer à gauche passer de la pommade passer fleur passer la rampe

passer le poteau passer le savon/passer un savon passer les bornes passement se passer se passer de

Anagrams

• pressa

---

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *p(e)t-tro- (“who flies, bird”). Related to penna.

Noun

passer (genitive passeris); m, third declension

1. sparrow

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	passer	passerēs
genitive	passeris	passerum
dative	passerī	passeribus
accusative	passerem	passerēs
ablative	passere	passeribus
vocative	passer	passerēs

Related terms

• passercula, passerculus
• passerīnus

Descendants

Aragonese: paxaro Asturian: páxaru Corsican: passula Dalmatian: paserain Esperanto: pasero Franco-Provençal: pâsserâ French: passereau Friulian: pàssare, passarat Galician: paxaro

Ido: pasero Interlingua: passere Italian: passero, passera Occitan: passerat Portuguese: pássaro Romanian: pasăre Romansch: pasler Sicilian: pàssaru Spanish: pájaro

References

• Michiel de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Brill, 2008, page 449

---

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *passāre < Latin passus (“a step, pace, footstep, track”).

Verb

passer

1. to pass; to pass by

Conjugation

• Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		passer			avoir passé, passez
gerund		en passant			Use the gerund of avoir followed by the past participle
present participle		passant
past participle		passé, passez
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jeo, jou	tu	il	nos, nous	vos, vous	ils
simple tenses	present	passe, pass	passes, passs	passe, pass	passons	passez, passés	passent
	imperfect	passoe, passeie, passoie	passoes, passeies, passoies	passot, passeit, passoit	passions, passiions	passiez, passiiez	passoent, passient, passoient
	past historic	passai	passas	passa	passames	passastes	passerent
	future	passerai	passeras	passera	passerons	passerez, passereiz	passeront
	conditional	passeroe, passereie, passeroie	passeroes, passereies, passeroies	passerot, passereie, passeroie	passerions, passeriions	passeriez, passeriiez	passeroent, passereient, passeroient
compound tenses	present perfect	Use the present tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	past anterior	Use the past historic tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	future perfect	Use the future tense of avoir followed by the past participle
	conditional perfect	Use the conditional tense of avoir followed by the past participle
subjunctive		que jeo, jou	que tu	qu’il	que nos, nous	que vos, vous	qu’ils
simple tenses	present	passe, pass	passes, passs	passe, pass	passons	passez	passent
	imperfect	passasse	passasses	passast	passissons	passissez, passissiez	passassent
compound tenses	past	Use the present subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
	pluperfect	Use the imperfect subjunctive of avoir followed by the past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos, nous	vos, vous	–
		—	passe	—	passons	passez	—

Descendants

• English: pass
• French: passer
• Jèrriais: pâsser

External links

• pass in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911