gaspiller

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French gaspiller (“to waste”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a modification of Middle French gaspailler (“to throw back, reject bullets of wheat”), from Old French gaspail, vaspale (“bullet of wheat”) (compare Medieval Latin gaspalium; Old Northern French waspail (“chaff”), from Frankish *wispila (“measure of grain”), from Proto-Germanic *wisp- (“measure of grain”). Akin to Middle Dutch and Middle Low German wispel; Norwegian visp; English wisp (“handful or bundle of hay or grass”). More at English wisp.

Alternate etymology connects Middle French gaspiller to Frankish *gaspilþijan (“to waste”), from Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną (“to destroy, waste”), from Proto-Indo-European *spel- (“to break off, split”), making it cognate with Old High German gaspildan (“to squander, waste”), Middle Dutch spillen (“to waste”), Old English ġespillan (“to spill, waste, spend”). Compare also Occitan guespillar, gispillar (“to trouble, tease”) from the same Germanic source. See English spill.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡas.pi.je/

• audio

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Verb

gaspiller

1. to waste

Conjugation

Conjugation of gaspiller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	gaspiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	gaspillant /ɡas.pi.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		gaspillé /ɡas.pi.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	gaspille /ɡas.pij/	gaspilles /ɡas.pij/	gaspille /ɡas.pij/	gaspillons /ɡas.pi.jɔ̃/	gaspillez /ɡas.pi.je/	gaspillent /ɡas.pij/
	imperfect	gaspillais /ɡas.pi.jɛ/	gaspillais /ɡas.pi.jɛ/	gaspillait /ɡas.pi.jɛ/	gaspillions /ɡas.pij.jɔ̃/	gaspilliez /ɡas.pij.je/	gaspillaient /ɡas.pi.jɛ/
	past historic2	gaspillai /ɡas.pi.je/	gaspillas /ɡas.pi.ja/	gaspilla /ɡas.pi.ja/	gaspillâmes /ɡas.pi.jam/	gaspillâtes /ɡas.pi.jat/	gaspillèrent /ɡas.pi.jɛʁ/
	future	gaspillerai /ɡas.pij.ʁe/	gaspilleras /ɡas.pij.ʁa/	gaspillera /ɡas.pij.ʁa/	gaspillerons /ɡas.pij.ʁɔ̃/	gaspillerez /ɡas.pij.ʁe/	gaspilleront /ɡas.pij.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	gaspillerais /ɡas.pij.ʁɛ/	gaspillerais /ɡas.pij.ʁɛ/	gaspillerait /ɡas.pij.ʁɛ/	gaspillerions /ɡas.pi.jə.ʁjɔ̃/	gaspilleriez /ɡas.pi.jə.ʁje/	gaspilleraient /ɡas.pij.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	gaspille /ɡas.pij/	gaspilles /ɡas.pij/	gaspille /ɡas.pij/	gaspillions /ɡas.pij.jɔ̃/	gaspilliez /ɡas.pij.je/	gaspillent /ɡas.pij/
	imperfect2	gaspillasse /ɡas.pi.jas/	gaspillasses /ɡas.pi.jas/	gaspillât /ɡas.pi.ja/	gaspillassions /ɡas.pi.ja.sjɔ̃/	gaspillassiez /ɡas.pi.ja.sje/	gaspillassent /ɡas.pi.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	gaspille /ɡas.pij/	—	gaspillons /ɡas.pi.jɔ̃/	gaspillez /ɡas.pi.je/	—
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).

Derived terms

• gaspillage
• gaspilleur

Further reading

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

Middle French

Verb

gaspiller

1. to destroy; wreck
   • 1561, Jean Zonaras, Maumont, Les Histoires et chroniques du Monde tirées tant du gros volume de Ian Zonaras, page 423

     Et sur cela, d'eux entrebatre, gaspiller, sabouler au public marché

     And upon this, to fight, destroy and shake them up in the public market

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of gaspiller

infinitive	simple	gaspiller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	gaspillant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		gaspillé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	gaspille	gaspilles	gaspille	gaspillons	gaspillez	gaspillent
	imperfect	gaspillois, gaspilloys	gaspillois, gaspilloys	gaspilloit, gaspilloyt	gaspillions, gaspillyons	gaspilliez, gaspillyez	gaspilloient, gaspilloyent
	past historic	gaspilla	gaspillas	gaspilla	gaspillasmes	gaspillastes	gaspillerent
	future	gaspillerai, gaspilleray	gaspilleras	gaspillera	gaspillerons	gaspillerez	gaspilleront
	conditional	gaspillerois, gaspilleroys	gaspillerois, gaspilleroys	gaspilleroit, gaspilleroyt	gaspillerions, gaspilleryons	gaspilleriez, gaspilleryez	gaspilleroient, gaspilleroyent
(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	gaspille	gaspilles	gaspille	gaspillons	gaspillez	gaspillent
	imperfect	gaspillasse	gaspillasses	gaspillast	gaspillassions	gaspillassiez	gaspillassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	gaspille	—	gaspillons	gaspillez	—
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).