cajoler

English

Etymology

cajole +‎ -er

Noun

cajoler (plural cajolers)

1. A person who cajoles; a flatterer.
2. (linguistics) A speech act intended to persuade or convince, such as the utterance "you know".

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French

Etymology

Probably a blend of Middle French cageoler (“chatter like a jay”) (from gajole, dialectal diminutive of geai (“jaybird”)) + Old French gaioler (“entice into a cage”), which is from Medieval Latin gabiola, from Late Latin caveola, diminutive of Latin cavea (“cage, coop, enclosure, stall”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Verb

cajoler

1. to cuddle, to cradle in one's arms
2. (dated) to flatter, to cajole

Conjugation

Conjugation of cajoler (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	cajoler
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	cajolant /ka.ʒɔ.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		cajolé /ka.ʒɔ.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	cajole /ka.ʒɔl/	cajoles /ka.ʒɔl/	cajole /ka.ʒɔl/	cajolons /ka.ʒɔ.lɔ̃/	cajolez /ka.ʒɔ.le/	cajolent /ka.ʒɔl/
	imperfect	cajolais /ka.ʒɔ.lɛ/	cajolais /ka.ʒɔ.lɛ/	cajolait /ka.ʒɔ.lɛ/	cajolions /ka.ʒɔ.ljɔ̃/	cajoliez /ka.ʒɔ.lje/	cajolaient /ka.ʒɔ.lɛ/
	past historic2	cajolai /ka.ʒɔ.le/	cajolas /ka.ʒɔ.la/	cajola /ka.ʒɔ.la/	cajolâmes /ka.ʒɔ.lam/	cajolâtes /ka.ʒɔ.lat/	cajolèrent /ka.ʒɔ.lɛʁ/
	future	cajolerai /ka.ʒɔl.ʁe/	cajoleras /ka.ʒɔl.ʁa/	cajolera /ka.ʒɔl.ʁa/	cajolerons /ka.ʒɔl.ʁɔ̃/	cajolerez /ka.ʒɔl.ʁe/	cajoleront /ka.ʒɔl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	cajolerais /ka.ʒɔl.ʁɛ/	cajolerais /ka.ʒɔl.ʁɛ/	cajolerait /ka.ʒɔl.ʁɛ/	cajolerions /ka.ʒɔ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	cajoleriez /ka.ʒɔ.lə.ʁje/	cajoleraient /ka.ʒɔl.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	cajole /ka.ʒɔl/	cajoles /ka.ʒɔl/	cajole /ka.ʒɔl/	cajolions /ka.ʒɔ.ljɔ̃/	cajoliez /ka.ʒɔ.lje/	cajolent /ka.ʒɔl/
	imperfect2	cajolasse /ka.ʒɔ.las/	cajolasses /ka.ʒɔ.las/	cajolât /ka.ʒɔ.la/	cajolassions /ka.ʒɔ.la.sjɔ̃/	cajolassiez /ka.ʒɔ.la.sje/	cajolassent /ka.ʒɔ.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	cajole /ka.ʒɔl/	—	cajolons /ka.ʒɔ.lɔ̃/	cajolez /ka.ʒɔ.le/	—
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).

Related terms

• cajoleur
• cajolerie

Descendants

• → English: cajole

Further reading

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