guère

See also: guere

French

Etymology

From Middle French guere(s), from Old French gaire(s), guaire(s) (“much”), from Frankish *waigaro (“much”). Compare Middle High German unweiger (“not much”), which corresponds closely to the French construct. Romance cognates are Occitan and Catalan gaire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛʁ/

• Audio (France, Paris):

  (file)

• Homophones: guerre, guerres
• Hyphenation: guère

Adverb

guère

1. (with ne) hardly, barely
   • 2008, Jean-Marc Moriceau, La bête du Gévaudan

     Habitués à ne guère sortir d’un cercle de quelques paroisses environnantes, surtout en cette saison d’hiver, quelle raison auraient-ils eu à distinguer entre plusieurs animaux agresseurs ?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   Je ne comprends guère le français.

   I hardly understand French.

   Je ne vais guère mieux.

   I’m not much better.

   Pour me réchauffer, il n’y a guère qu’un pot de thé.

   To warm myself up, nothing beats a pot of tea.

   (literally, “...there's hardly anything but a pot of tea.”)

See also

• à peine

Further reading

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

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Picard

Alternative forms

• dgère (Nord and Pas-de-Calais)

Etymology

From Late Latin werra. Compare Bourguignon guârre, gârre, French guerre, Norman gùerre, dgèrre, djère.

Noun

guère f (plural guères)

1. (Nord and Pas-de-Calais) war