haïr

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See also: hair

French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French haïr (to hate), from Old French hair (to hate) (compare Old French enhadir (to become filled with hate)), from Frankish *hattjan (to hate), from Proto-Germanic *hatjaną (to hunt, rush, attack), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂d- (strong emotion). Akin to Old High German hezzen (to hunt, pursue), Old English hettan (to pursue, persecute), Old English hete (hate, hatred). More at hate, heinous.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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haïr

  1. (transitive) to hate

Usage notes

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  • In Standard French, the h of haïr is aspirated; thus, elisions of vowels and liaisons are not possible, i.e. “I hate you (sg.)” is je te hais, not je t’hais.
  • In Canadian French, the past historic is used as the present tense for the first, second, and third person singular subject pronouns. Also, the "h" is not aspirated, therefore making elisions possible. For example: "I hate you" is "je t'haïs." Note that this usage is vernacular and not standard. Some Canadian French speakers may even say "je t'haguis", which is also nonstandard and considered even more informal/basilectal than "je t'haïs."
  • In Louisiana, the "h" retains its pronunciation as the consonant /h/.

Conjugation

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This verb is spelled as if conjugated like finir, but has a diaeresis throughout its conjugation (including where the circumflex would normally be used) except in the singular indicative present, whose forms are pronounced /ɛ/ in Standard French instead of /ai/, a pronunciation nonetheless often found in informal speech.

See also

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Further reading

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Middle French

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Verb

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haïr

  1. (transitive) to hate

Old French

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Verb

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haïr

  1. Alternative form of hair

Usage notes

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