achever

French

Etymology

From Middle French achever, from Old French achever, from Vulgar Latin *accapāre, from Latin ad + caput (“head”) + -āre. Compare Catalan, Occitan, Portuguese and Spanish acabar. Compare also English achieve.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʃ.ve/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: achevai, achevé, achevée, achevées, achevés, achevez

Verb

achever

1. (transitive) to finish, to complete
   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche‎^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter II:

     Ayant donc achevé ses préparatifs, il ne voulut pas attendre davantage pour mettre à exécution son projet.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     Having thus completed his preparations, he did not want to wait any longer to put his project into execution.

2. (transitive) to finish off (someone who is already incapacitated)
3. (reflexive, s'achever) to finish

Derived terms

• achevé
• inachevé

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• vachère

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French à, from Latin ad; + chief, from caput (“head”). Also possibly from a Vulgar Latin root *accapāre.

Verb

achever

1. to finish; to complete

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of achever

infinitive	simple	achever
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	achevant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		achevé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	acheve	acheves	acheve	achevons	achevez	achevent
	imperfect	achevois, achevoys	achevois, achevoys	achevoit, achevoyt	achevions, achevyons	acheviez, achevyez	achevoient, achevoyent
	past historic	acheva	achevas	acheva	achevasmes	achevastes	acheverent
	future	acheverai, acheveray	acheveras	achevera	acheverons	acheverez	acheveront
	conditional	acheverois, acheveroys	acheverois, acheveroys	acheveroit, acheveroyt	acheverions, acheveryons	acheveriez, acheveryez	acheveroient, acheveroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	acheve	acheves	acheve	achevons	achevez	achevent
	imperfect	achevasse	achevasses	achevast	achevassions	achevassiez	achevassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	acheve	—	achevons	achevez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Synonyms

• finir

Descendants

• French: achever