mordre

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French mordre, from Vulgar Latin *mordĕre, from Latin mordēre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɔʁdʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

mordre

1. to bite

   (by extension) to take the bait intentionally

2. to encroach

Conjugation

Conjugation of mordre (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	mordre
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	mordant /mɔʁ.dɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		mordu /mɔʁ.dy/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	mords /mɔʁ/	mords /mɔʁ/	mord /mɔʁ/	mordons /mɔʁ.dɔ̃/	mordez /mɔʁ.de/	mordent /mɔʁd/
	imperfect	mordais /mɔʁ.dɛ/	mordais /mɔʁ.dɛ/	mordait /mɔʁ.dɛ/	mordions /mɔʁ.djɔ̃/	mordiez /mɔʁ.dje/	mordaient /mɔʁ.dɛ/
	past historic2	mordis /mɔʁ.di/	mordis /mɔʁ.di/	mordit /mɔʁ.di/	mordîmes /mɔʁ.dim/	mordîtes /mɔʁ.dit/	mordirent /mɔʁ.diʁ/
	future	mordrai /mɔʁ.dʁe/	mordras /mɔʁ.dʁa/	mordra /mɔʁ.dʁa/	mordrons /mɔʁ.dʁɔ̃/	mordrez /mɔʁ.dʁe/	mordront /mɔʁ.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	mordrais /mɔʁ.dʁɛ/	mordrais /mɔʁ.dʁɛ/	mordrait /mɔʁ.dʁɛ/	mordrions /mɔʁ.dʁi.jɔ̃/	mordriez /mɔʁ.dʁi.je/	mordraient /mɔʁ.dʁɛ/
(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	morde /mɔʁd/	mordes /mɔʁd/	morde /mɔʁd/	mordions /mɔʁ.djɔ̃/	mordiez /mɔʁ.dje/	mordent /mɔʁd/
	imperfect2	mordisse /mɔʁ.dis/	mordisses /mɔʁ.dis/	mordît /mɔʁ.di/	mordissions /mɔʁ.di.sjɔ̃/	mordissiez /mɔʁ.di.sje/	mordissent /mɔʁ.dis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	mords /mɔʁ/	—	mordons /mɔʁ.dɔ̃/	mordez /mɔʁ.de/	—
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

• à la mords-moi-le-nœud
• chien qui aboie ne mord pas
• c’est le chat qui se mord la queue
• c’est le serpent qui se mord la queue
• mordre à l’hameçon
• mordre la poussière
• mordre sur sa chique
• s’en mordre les doigts

 

Related terms

• morsure
• morceau

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *mordĕre, from Latin mordēre.

Verb

mordre

1. to bite

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		mordre			avoir mors
gerund		en mordant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		mordant
past participle		mors
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	mort	morz	mort	mordons	mordez	mordent
	imperfect	mordoie, mordeie	mordoies, mordeies	mordoit, mordeit	mordiiens, mordiens	mordiiez, mordiez	mordoient, mordeient
	preterite	mors	morsis	morst	morsimes	morsistes	morstrent
	future	mordrai	mordras	mordra	mordrons	mordroiz, mordreiz, mordrez	mordront
	conditional	mordroie, mordreie	mordroies, mordreies	mordroit, mordreit	mordriiens, mordriens	mordriiez, mordriez	mordroient, mordreient
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	morde	mordes	morde	mordons	mordez	mordent
	imperfect	morsisse	morsisses	morsist	morsissons, morsissiens	morsissoiz, morsissez, morsissiez	morsissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	mort	—	mordons	mordez	—

Descendants

• French: mordre