aiguiser

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French aguisier, from Vulgar Latin *acutiāre, from Latin acūtus, the past participle of acuō. Compare Catalan agusar, Italian aguzzare, Occitan agusar, Portuguese aguçar, Spanish aguzar. The initial -ai- can probably be explained through a hypothetical proto-French or late Vulgar Latin intermediate form *ayguydzar(e), from assimilation of the palatal approximant in the second syllable of an earlier *aguydzare. In this hypothesis, the Old French form aguisier may be due to influence from agu (cf. aigu).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ.ɡɥi.ze/ ~ /e.ɡɥi.ze/, /ɛ.ɡi.ze/ ~ /e.ɡi.ze/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

aiguiser

1. to sharpen (of a point, to make sharper)
2. to hone (e.g. a skill)
3. to whet

Conjugation

Conjugation of aiguiser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	aiguiser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	aiguisant /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɑ̃/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		aiguisé /ɛ.ɡɥi.ze/ or /e.ɡɥi.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	aiguise /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/	aiguises /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/	aiguise /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/	aiguisons /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɔ̃/	aiguisez /ɛ.ɡɥi.ze/ or /e.ɡɥi.ze/	aiguisent /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/
	imperfect	aiguisais /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɛ/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɛ/	aiguisais /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɛ/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɛ/	aiguisait /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɛ/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɛ/	aiguisions /ɛ.ɡɥi.zjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥi.zjɔ̃/	aiguisiez /ɛ.ɡɥi.zje/ or /e.ɡɥi.zje/	aiguisaient /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɛ/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɛ/
	past historic2	aiguisai /ɛ.ɡɥi.ze/ or /e.ɡɥi.ze/	aiguisas /ɛ.ɡɥi.za/ or /e.ɡɥi.za/	aiguisa /ɛ.ɡɥi.za/ or /e.ɡɥi.za/	aiguisâmes /ɛ.ɡɥi.zam/ or /e.ɡɥi.zam/	aiguisâtes /ɛ.ɡɥi.zat/ or /e.ɡɥi.zat/	aiguisèrent /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɛʁ/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɛʁ/
	future	aiguiserai /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁe/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁe/	aiguiseras /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁa/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁa/	aiguisera /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁa/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁa/	aiguiserons /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁɔ̃/	aiguiserez /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁe/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁe/	aiguiseront /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	aiguiserais /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁɛ/	aiguiserais /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁɛ/	aiguiserait /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɥiz.ʁɛ/	aiguiserions /ɛ.ɡɥi.zə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥi.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	aiguiseriez /ɛ.ɡɥi.zə.ʁje/ or /e.ɡɥi.zə.ʁje/	aiguiseraient /ɛ.ɡɥiz.ʁɛ/ or /e.ɡɥiz.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	aiguise /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/	aiguises /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/	aiguise /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/	aiguisions /ɛ.ɡɥi.zjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥi.zjɔ̃/	aiguisiez /ɛ.ɡɥi.zje/ or /e.ɡɥi.zje/	aiguisent /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/
	imperfect2	aiguisasse /ɛ.ɡɥi.zas/ or /e.ɡɥi.zas/	aiguisasses /ɛ.ɡɥi.zas/ or /e.ɡɥi.zas/	aiguisât /ɛ.ɡɥi.za/ or /e.ɡɥi.za/	aiguisassions /ɛ.ɡɥi.za.sjɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥi.za.sjɔ̃/	aiguisassiez /ɛ.ɡɥi.za.sje/ or /e.ɡɥi.za.sje/	aiguisassent /ɛ.ɡɥi.zas/ or /e.ɡɥi.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	aiguise /ɛ.ɡɥiz/ or /e.ɡɥiz/	—	aiguisons /ɛ.ɡɥi.zɔ̃/ or /e.ɡɥi.zɔ̃/	aiguisez /ɛ.ɡɥi.ze/ or /e.ɡɥi.ze/	—
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

• pierre à aiguiser

Related terms

• aigu (adjective)
• aiguille
• aiguillon

Further reading

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