goûter

See also: gouter

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French goûter

Noun

goûter (plural goûters)

1. (dated) A light meal in the afternoon; tea.
   • 1921 4, Marguerite Fishbacher, “Bellevue Had A Party”, in The Key, volume 38, number 2:

     We thought best to have a lottery of toys, school furniture, books, etc... […] accompanied by the "goûter" which is a necessary part of every entertainment. This had the great advantage that the buying of toys and cakes for the goûter did not exhaust the whole amount of the draft.

French

Alternative forms

• gouter (post-1990 spelling)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French gouster, from Old French goster, inherited from Latin gustāre. Compare the borrowed prefixed verb déguster.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡu.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

goûter

1. to taste, to try (to sample something orally)

   Synonym: déguster

   Je goûterai ta tarte demain car j’ai goûté un fameux tiramisu tout à l’heure.

   I will taste your pie tomorrow, since I have just tasted an excellent tiramisu.

2. (Belgium, Quebec) to taste like

   Cette tarte goûte la cannelle. ― This pie tastes like cinnamon.

3. (figurative) to approve, to appreciate

   Le public goûte peu ces sortes d’ouvrages.

   The public has little taste for these sorts of works.

   Après tant de troubles le pays goûtait un calme profond.

   After so much unrest, the country enjoyed a period of profound calm.

   • 1857, Phillippe Athanase Cucheval-Clarigny, Histoire de la presse en Angleterre et aux États-Unis, page 472:

     Réunies en volumes, ces lettres ont été goûtées en Angleterre presque autant qu’aux États-Unis, et ont eu plusieurs éditions.

     Collected in volumes, these letters were appreciated in England almost as much as they were in the US, and several editions were published.

Conjugation

Conjugation of goûter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	goûter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	goûtant /ɡu.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		goûté /ɡu.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	goûte /ɡut/	goûtes /ɡut/	goûte /ɡut/	goûtons /ɡu.tɔ̃/	goûtez /ɡu.te/	goûtent /ɡut/
	imperfect	goûtais /ɡu.tɛ/	goûtais /ɡu.tɛ/	goûtait /ɡu.tɛ/	goûtions /ɡu.tjɔ̃/	goûtiez /ɡu.tje/	goûtaient /ɡu.tɛ/
	past historic2	goûtai /ɡu.te/	goûtas /ɡu.ta/	goûta /ɡu.ta/	goûtâmes /ɡu.tam/	goûtâtes /ɡu.tat/	goûtèrent /ɡu.tɛʁ/
	future	goûterai /ɡu.tʁe/	goûteras /ɡu.tʁa/	goûtera /ɡu.tʁa/	goûterons /ɡu.tʁɔ̃/	goûterez /ɡu.tʁe/	goûteront /ɡu.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	goûterais /ɡu.tʁɛ/	goûterais /ɡu.tʁɛ/	goûterait /ɡu.tʁɛ/	goûterions /ɡu.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	goûteriez /ɡu.tə.ʁje/	goûteraient /ɡu.tʁɛ/
(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	goûte /ɡut/	goûtes /ɡut/	goûte /ɡut/	goûtions /ɡu.tjɔ̃/	goûtiez /ɡu.tje/	goûtent /ɡut/
	imperfect2	goûtasse /ɡu.tas/	goûtasses /ɡu.tas/	goûtât /ɡu.ta/	goûtassions /ɡu.ta.sjɔ̃/	goûtassiez /ɡu.ta.sje/	goûtassent /ɡu.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	goûte /ɡut/	—	goûtons /ɡu.tɔ̃/	goûtez /ɡu.te/	—
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

• dégoûter
• goûter le ciel (Quebec)
• goûteur

Related terms

• goût

Descendants

• → German: goutieren

Noun

goûter m (plural goûters)

1. nuncheon
2. (France) meal similar to breakfast taken around 4 P.M

   Synonym: quatre-heures

Further reading

• “goûter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “goûter” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “goûter” in Dico en ligne Le Robert.

Anagrams

• rouget