étrécir

French

Etymology

Old French estrecier, from Vulgar Latin *strictiare, from Latin strictus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.tʁe.siʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iʁ

Verb

étrécir

1. (archaic, transitive) to make narrow

Usage notes

Only the prefixed verb rétrécir is used in contemporary French.

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 étrécir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	étrécir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	étrécissant /e.tʁe.si.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		étréci /e.tʁe.si/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	étrécis /e.tʁe.si/	étrécis /e.tʁe.si/	étrécit /e.tʁe.si/	étrécissons /e.tʁe.si.sɔ̃/	étrécissez /e.tʁe.si.se/	étrécissent /e.tʁe.sis/
	imperfect	étrécissais /e.tʁe.si.sɛ/	étrécissais /e.tʁe.si.sɛ/	étrécissait /e.tʁe.si.sɛ/	étrécissions /e.tʁe.si.sjɔ̃/	étrécissiez /e.tʁe.si.sje/	étrécissaient /e.tʁe.si.sɛ/
	past historic2	étrécis /e.tʁe.si/	étrécis /e.tʁe.si/	étrécit /e.tʁe.si/	étrécîmes /e.tʁe.sim/	étrécîtes /e.tʁe.sit/	étrécirent /e.tʁe.siʁ/
	future	étrécirai /e.tʁe.si.ʁe/	étréciras /e.tʁe.si.ʁa/	étrécira /e.tʁe.si.ʁa/	étrécirons /e.tʁe.si.ʁɔ̃/	étrécirez /e.tʁe.si.ʁe/	étréciront /e.tʁe.si.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	étrécirais /e.tʁe.si.ʁɛ/	étrécirais /e.tʁe.si.ʁɛ/	étrécirait /e.tʁe.si.ʁɛ/	étrécirions /e.tʁe.si.ʁjɔ̃/	étréciriez /e.tʁe.si.ʁje/	étréciraient /e.tʁe.si.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	étrécisse /e.tʁe.sis/	étrécisses /e.tʁe.sis/	étrécisse /e.tʁe.sis/	étrécissions /e.tʁe.si.sjɔ̃/	étrécissiez /e.tʁe.si.sje/	étrécissent /e.tʁe.sis/
	imperfect2	étrécisse /e.tʁe.sis/	étrécisses /e.tʁe.sis/	étrécît /e.tʁe.si/	étrécissions /e.tʁe.si.sjɔ̃/	étrécissiez /e.tʁe.si.sje/	étrécissent /e.tʁe.sis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	étrécis /e.tʁe.si/	—	étrécissons /e.tʁe.si.sɔ̃/	étrécissez /e.tʁe.si.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).

Anagrams

• critère, réciter, récrite, rétréci, tiercer

Further reading

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