rincer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French rincer (“to rinse”), from Old French rincer, raïncier (“to rinse, cleanse”). Of contested origin. Either from Old Norse hreinsa (“to rinse, clean out”), from Proto-Germanic *hrainisōną (“to clean, purify”), or from a dissimilation of Old French recincer, from Latin recentāre (“to make fresh”), from recens. Cognate with English rinse, which see.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɛ̃.se/

• audio

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Verb

rincer

1. to rinse
2. (slang) to drink a lot of alcohol

   Il est complètement rincé. ― He is totally drunk.

Conjugation

This verb is part of a group of -er verbs for which 'c' is softened to a 'ç' before the vowels 'a' and 'o'.

Conjugation of rincer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	rincer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	rinçant /ʁɛ̃.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		rincé /ʁɛ̃.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	rince /ʁɛ̃s/	rinces /ʁɛ̃s/	rince /ʁɛ̃s/	rinçons /ʁɛ̃.sɔ̃/	rincez /ʁɛ̃.se/	rincent /ʁɛ̃s/
	imperfect	rinçais /ʁɛ̃.sɛ/	rinçais /ʁɛ̃.sɛ/	rinçait /ʁɛ̃.sɛ/	rincions /ʁɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	rinciez /ʁɛ̃.sje/	rinçaient /ʁɛ̃.sɛ/
	past historic2	rinçai /ʁɛ̃.se/	rinças /ʁɛ̃.sa/	rinça /ʁɛ̃.sa/	rinçâmes /ʁɛ̃.sam/	rinçâtes /ʁɛ̃.sat/	rincèrent /ʁɛ̃.sɛʁ/
	future	rincerai /ʁɛ̃.sʁe/	rinceras /ʁɛ̃.sʁa/	rincera /ʁɛ̃.sʁa/	rincerons /ʁɛ̃.sʁɔ̃/	rincerez /ʁɛ̃.sʁe/	rinceront /ʁɛ̃.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	rincerais /ʁɛ̃.sʁɛ/	rincerais /ʁɛ̃.sʁɛ/	rincerait /ʁɛ̃.sʁɛ/	rincerions /ʁɛ̃.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	rinceriez /ʁɛ̃.sə.ʁje/	rinceraient /ʁɛ̃.sʁɛ/
(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	rince /ʁɛ̃s/	rinces /ʁɛ̃s/	rince /ʁɛ̃s/	rincions /ʁɛ̃.sjɔ̃/	rinciez /ʁɛ̃.sje/	rincent /ʁɛ̃s/
	imperfect2	rinçasse /ʁɛ̃.sas/	rinçasses /ʁɛ̃.sas/	rinçât /ʁɛ̃.sa/	rinçassions /ʁɛ̃.sa.sjɔ̃/	rinçassiez /ʁɛ̃.sa.sje/	rinçassent /ʁɛ̃.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	rince /ʁɛ̃s/	—	rinçons /ʁɛ̃.sɔ̃/	rincez /ʁɛ̃.se/	—
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

• rincer l’œil

Further reading

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

Middle French

Alternative forms

• rinser, rincier

Etymology

Old French, see above.

Verb

rincer

1. to rinse (wash briefly with water)
   • 1581, Nicolas Froumenteau, Cabinet du Roy de France, dans lequel il y a trois perles préciouses d'inestimable valeur, page 112:

     & que le calice qu'on leur donnoit à boire, n'est que pour leur rincer la bouche

     The chalice they were given to drink was only for them to rinse their mouths

Conjugation

• As parler except c becomes ç before a and o. May remain c in older manuscripts.
• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of rincer

infinitive	simple	rincer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	rinçant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		rincé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	rince	rinces	rince	rinçons	rincez	rincent
	imperfect	rinçois, rinçoys	rinçois, rinçoys	rinçoit, rinçoyt	rincions, rinçons	rinciez, rincyez	rinçoient, rinçoyent
	past historic	rinça	rinças	rinça	rinçasmes	rinçastes	rincerent
	future	rincerai, rinceray	rinceras	rincera	rincerons	rincerez	rinceront
	conditional	rincerois, rinceroys	rincerois, rinceroys	rinceroit, rinceroyt	rincerions, rinceryons	rinceriez, rinceryez	rinceroient, rinceroyent
(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	rince	rinces	rince	rinçons	rincez	rincent
	imperfect	rinçasse	rinçasses	rinçast	rinçassions	rinçassiez	rinçassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	rince	—	rinçons	rincez	—
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: rincer

Old French

Alternative forms

• rinser, reinser, raïncer

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin rainsāre, from Frankish *hrainisōn (“to clean, rinse”).

Verb

rincer

1. to rinse (with water)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-c, *-cs, *-ct are modified to z, z, zt. In addition, c becomes ç before an a, o or u to keep the /ts/ sound intact. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of rincer (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		rincer			avoir rincé
gerund		en rinçant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		rinçant
past participle		rincé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	rinz	rinces	rince	rinçons	rincez	rincent
	imperfect	rinçoie, rinceie, rinçoe, rinceve	rinçoies, rinceies, rinçoes, rinceves	rinçoit, rinceit, rinçot, rinceve	rinciiens, rinciens	rinciiez, rinciez	rinçoient, rinceient, rinçoent, rincevent
	preterite	rinçai	rinças	rinça	rinçames	rinçastes	rincerent
	future	rincerai	rinceras	rincera	rincerons	rinceroiz, rincereiz, rincerez	rinceront
	conditional	rinceroie, rincereie	rinceroies, rincereies	rinceroit, rincereit	rinceriiens, rinceriens	rinceriiez, rinceriez	rinceroient, rincereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	rinz	rinz	rinzt	rinçons	rincez	rincent
	imperfect	rinçasse	rinçasses	rinçast	rincissons, rincissiens	rincissoiz, rincissez, rincissiez	rinçassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	rince	—	rinçons	rincez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: rincer, rinser, rincier
  • French: rincer
• Middle French: rainchier (“to beat, thrash”)
• Norman: rinchi (Jersiais)
• Picard: rinceu (Athois), rincher (Ch'ti)
• → Middle English: rynsen, ryncen, rynschen (“to rinse”) (merger with similar forms from Old Norse hreinsa)
  • English: rinse, rench (dialectal)
  • Scots: rinche, reenge, rensch
• → Middle English: ranshen (“to rinse with oil, to grease”)