payer

See also: Payer and payér

English

Alternative forms

• payor

Etymology

pay +‎ -er (“subject of action”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpeɪ.ɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪə(r)

Noun

payer (plural payers)

1. One who pays; specifically, the person by whom a bill or note has been, or should be, paid.
2. (finance) A swaption which gives its holder the option to enter into a swap in which they pay the fixed leg and receive the floating leg.

Antonyms

• payee

Derived terms

• taxpayer

Translations

one who pays

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 支付者 (zhīfùzhě)

• Czech: plátce m
• Finnish: maksaja (fi)
• French: payeur (fr) m, payeuse (fr) f
• German: Zahler (de) m, Zahlerin (de) f
• Japanese: 支払人 (しはらいにん, shiharainin)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: betaler (no) m

  Nynorsk: betalar m

• Portuguese: pagante m or f, pagador m
• Russian: плате́льщик (ru) m (platélʹščik), плате́льщица (ru) f (platélʹščica)
• Serbo-Croatian: platiša (sh) m, platac (sh) m
• Spanish: pagador (es) m
• Swedish: betalare (sv) c

Anagrams

• apery, peary, praye, rapey, repay

---

French

Etymology

From Middle French payer, from Old French paiier, paier, from Latin pacāre, present active infinitive of pacō (“pacify”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛ.je/ ~ /pe.je/, /pe.je/

• audio:

  (file)

Verb

payer

1. (transitive) to pay (for)

   payer une amende - pay a fine

   payer un service - pay for a service

2. (transitive) to pay (someone)

   il m'a payé 3 euros - he paid me 3 euros

   payer la caissière - pay the cashier

3. pay for (suffer the consequences of something)

   Tu vas payer pour ce que tu as fait à ma sœur.

4. to pay off (to be fruitful)

   Mes efforts ont payé.

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer), the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to either group, according to the writer's preference).

Conjugation of payer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	payer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	payant /pɛ.jɑ̃/ or /pe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		payé /pɛ.je/ or /pe.je/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	paye or paie /pɛj/ or /pɛ/	payes or paies /pɛj/ or /pɛ/	paye or paie /pɛj/ or /pɛ/	payons /pɛ.jɔ̃/ or /pe.jɔ̃/	payez /pɛ.je/ or /pe.je/	payent or paient /pɛj/ or /pɛ/
	imperfect	payais /pɛ.jɛ/ or /pe.jɛ/	payais /pɛ.jɛ/ or /pe.jɛ/	payait /pɛ.jɛ/ or /pe.jɛ/	payions /pɛj.jɔ̃/	payiez /pɛj.je/	payaient /pɛ.jɛ/ or /pe.jɛ/
	past historic2	payai /pɛ.je/ or /pe.je/	payas /pɛ.ja/ or /pe.ja/	paya /pɛ.ja/ or /pe.ja/	payâmes /pɛ.jam/ or /pe.jam/	payâtes /pɛ.jat/ or /pe.jat/	payèrent /pɛ.jɛʁ/ or /pe.jɛʁ/
	future	payerai or paierai /pɛj.ʁe/ or /pɛ.ʁe/ or /pe.ʁe/	payeras or paieras /pɛj.ʁa/ or /pɛ.ʁa/ or /pe.ʁa/	payera or paiera /pɛj.ʁa/ or /pɛ.ʁa/ or /pe.ʁa/	payerons or paierons /pɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /pɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /pe.ʁɔ̃/	payerez or paierez /pɛj.ʁe/ or /pɛ.ʁe/ or /pe.ʁe/	payeront or paieront /pɛj.ʁɔ̃/ or /pɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /pe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	payerais or paierais /pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /pe.ʁɛ/	payerais or paierais /pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /pe.ʁɛ/	payerait or paierait /pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /pe.ʁɛ/	payerions or paierions /pɛ.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /pe.jə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /pɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /pe.ʁjɔ̃/	payeriez or paieriez /pɛ.jə.ʁje/ or /pe.jə.ʁje/ or /pɛ.ʁje/ or /pe.ʁje/	payeraient or paieraient /pɛj.ʁɛ/ or /pɛ.ʁɛ/ or /pe.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	paye or paie /pɛj/ or /pɛ/	payes or paies /pɛj/ or /pɛ/	paye or paie /pɛj/ or /pɛ/	payions /pɛj.jɔ̃/	payiez /pɛj.je/	payent or paient /pɛj/ or /pɛ/
	imperfect2	payasse /pɛ.jas/ or /pe.jas/	payasses /pɛ.jas/ or /pe.jas/	payât /pɛ.ja/ or /pe.ja/	payassions /pɛ.ja.sjɔ̃/ or /pe.ja.sjɔ̃/	payassiez /pɛ.ja.sje/ or /pe.ja.sje/	payassent /pɛ.jas/ or /pe.jas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	paye or paie /pɛj/ or /pɛ/	—	payons /pɛ.jɔ̃/ or /pe.jɔ̃/	payez /pɛ.je/ or /pe.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

• paie, paye
• paiement, payement
• payable
• payeur

Related terms

• paix

Further reading

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

---

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French paiier.

Verb

payer

1. to pay

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of payer

infinitive	simple	payer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	payant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		payé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	paye	payes	paye	payons	payez	payent
	imperfect	payois, payoys	payois, payoys	payoit, payoyt	payions, payyons	payiez, payyez	payoient, payoyent
	past historic	paya	payas	paya	payasmes	payastes	payerent
	future	payerai, payeray	payeras	payera	payerons	payerez	payeront
	conditional	payerois, payeroys	payerois, payeroys	payeroit, payeroyt	payerions, payeryons	payeriez, payeryez	payeroient, payeroyent
(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	paye	payes	paye	payons	payez	payent
	imperfect	payasse	payasses	payast	payassions	payassiez	payassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	paye	—	payons	payez	—
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).

Descendants

• French: payer
• → Dutch: paaien (possibly)

---

Norman

Alternative forms

• payi (Jersey)

Etymology

From Old French paiier, from Latin pācō, pācāre (“make peaceful, pacify, quiet, soothe; subdue”), from pāx (“peace”).

Verb

payer

1. (Guernsey) to pay