saper

See also: såper

Aragonese

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *sapēre, from Classial Latin sapiō, sapere (“taste”).

Verb

saper

1. to know

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sa.pe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Italian zappare (“to hoe”).

Verb

saper

1. (transitive) to sap, do sapping work on
2. (transitive, figurative) to erode, wear down, undermine

Derived terms

• sapeur

Etymology 2

Unknown.

Verb

saper

1. (informal, transitive, reflexive, Europe) to dress

   Ce type-là est toujours bien sapé.

   That guy is always well-dressed.

Etymology 3

Verb

saper

1. (transitive, informal, Quebec) to eat or chew noisily
2. (transitive, informal, Quebec) to slurp

Etymology 4

From sape, from Latin sappa. Compare Italian zappare, Friulian sapâ, Venetian sapar, Romanian săpa.

Verb

saper

1. (agriculture) to harvest or reap forage or cereals with a small scythe

Conjugation

Conjugation of saper (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	saper
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	sapant /sa.pɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		sapé /sa.pe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sape /sap/	sapes /sap/	sape /sap/	sapons /sa.pɔ̃/	sapez /sa.pe/	sapent /sap/
	imperfect	sapais /sa.pɛ/	sapais /sa.pɛ/	sapait /sa.pɛ/	sapions /sa.pjɔ̃/	sapiez /sa.pje/	sapaient /sa.pɛ/
	past historic2	sapai /sa.pe/	sapas /sa.pa/	sapa /sa.pa/	sapâmes /sa.pam/	sapâtes /sa.pat/	sapèrent /sa.pɛʁ/
	future	saperai /sa.pʁe/	saperas /sa.pʁa/	sapera /sa.pʁa/	saperons /sa.pʁɔ̃/	saperez /sa.pʁe/	saperont /sa.pʁɔ̃/
	conditional	saperais /sa.pʁɛ/	saperais /sa.pʁɛ/	saperait /sa.pʁɛ/	saperions /sa.pə.ʁjɔ̃/	saperiez /sa.pə.ʁje/	saperaient /sa.pʁɛ/
(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	sape /sap/	sapes /sap/	sape /sap/	sapions /sa.pjɔ̃/	sapiez /sa.pje/	sapent /sap/
	imperfect2	sapasse /sa.pas/	sapasses /sa.pas/	sapât /sa.pa/	sapassions /sa.pa.sjɔ̃/	sapassiez /sa.pa.sje/	sapassent /sa.pas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sape /sap/	—	sapons /sa.pɔ̃/	sapez /sa.pe/	—
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).

Related terms

• sape

Anagrams

• après, âpres, épars, pares, parés, râpes, râpés, repas

Further reading

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

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Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saˈper/

Verb

saper

1. to know

Conjugation

    Conjugation of saper

infinitive		saper
participle		present	perfect
		sapente	sapite
active		simple	perfect
	present	sape	ha sapite
	past	sapeva	habeva sapite
	future	sapera	habera sapite
	conditional	saperea	haberea sapite
	imperative	sape
passive		simple	perfect
	present	es sapite	ha essite sapite
	past	esseva sapite	habeva essite sapite
	future	essera sapite	habera essite sapite
	conditional	esserea sapite	haberea essite sapite
	imperative	sia sapite

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Italian

Verb

saper

1. Apocopic form of sapere

Anagrams

• aspre, parse, persa, presa, spare, spera

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Torres Strait Creole

Noun

saper

1. (Eastern dialect) flying fox, fruit bat

Synonyms

• sapur (Western dialect)