étoffer

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French estoffer, from Old French estoffer, estofer (“to provide what is needed, equip, decorate”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn (“to stuff”). Doublet of stopper.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e.tɔ.fe/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

étoffer

1. to stuff (a pillow, food)

   Synonyms: confectionner, farcir

2. (furniture) to upholster
3. (clothing) to fill out
4. to pad out; to flesh out (give something more substance)

   Synonym: enrichir

5. (reflexive, also figurative) to fill out (to get plumper)

   Je grandis, je grossis, je m’étoffe.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 2009 February 4, Claire Gatinois, “Hans Beck, créateur des figurines en plastique Playmobil”, in Le monde‎^[1], archived from the original on 2009-02-05:

     L’univers de Playmobil s’est étoffé : animaux de la ferme, camions de pompiers, bateaux pirates… Une "ville Playmobil" a même été créée, à 10 kilomètres de Nuremberg.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Conjugation of étoffer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	étoffer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	étoffant /e.tɔ.fɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		étoffé /e.tɔ.fe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	étoffe /e.tɔf/	étoffes /e.tɔf/	étoffe /e.tɔf/	étoffons /e.tɔ.fɔ̃/	étoffez /e.tɔ.fe/	étoffent /e.tɔf/
	imperfect	étoffais /e.tɔ.fɛ/	étoffais /e.tɔ.fɛ/	étoffait /e.tɔ.fɛ/	étoffions /e.tɔ.fjɔ̃/	étoffiez /e.tɔ.fje/	étoffaient /e.tɔ.fɛ/
	past historic2	étoffai /e.tɔ.fe/	étoffas /e.tɔ.fa/	étoffa /e.tɔ.fa/	étoffâmes /e.tɔ.fam/	étoffâtes /e.tɔ.fat/	étoffèrent /e.tɔ.fɛʁ/
	future	étofferai /e.tɔ.fʁe/	étofferas /e.tɔ.fʁa/	étoffera /e.tɔ.fʁa/	étofferons /e.tɔ.fʁɔ̃/	étofferez /e.tɔ.fʁe/	étofferont /e.tɔ.fʁɔ̃/
	conditional	étofferais /e.tɔ.fʁɛ/	étofferais /e.tɔ.fʁɛ/	étofferait /e.tɔ.fʁɛ/	étofferions /e.tɔ.fə.ʁjɔ̃/	étofferiez /e.tɔ.fə.ʁje/	étofferaient /e.tɔ.fʁɛ/
(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	étoffe /e.tɔf/	étoffes /e.tɔf/	étoffe /e.tɔf/	étoffions /e.tɔ.fjɔ̃/	étoffiez /e.tɔ.fje/	étoffent /e.tɔf/
	imperfect2	étoffasse /e.tɔ.fas/	étoffasses /e.tɔ.fas/	étoffât /e.tɔ.fa/	étoffassions /e.tɔ.fa.sjɔ̃/	étoffassiez /e.tɔ.fa.sje/	étoffassent /e.tɔ.fas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	étoffe /e.tɔf/	—	étoffons /e.tɔ.fɔ̃/	étoffez /e.tɔ.fe/	—
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

• étoffe
• étoffement

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• offerte