choisir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French choisir, from Old French choisir, coisir (“to differentiate, see distinctly”), from Frankish *kauʀijan (“to choose”) or Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan), both from Proto-Germanic *kauzijaną, from Proto-Germanic *keusaną (“to choose, taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to choose, taste”).

Cognate with Franco-Provençal chouêsir (“to choose”), Germanic cognates include Old Frisian kēra (“to elect”). Related also to Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to choose, examine”), Old High German kiosan (“to choose”), Old English ċēosan (“to choose”), Old Norse kjósa (“to choose”). More at choose.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃwa.ziʁ/

• audio

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• Hyphenation: choi‧sir

Verb

choisir

1. to choose

   Je n’ai pas eu le temps de choisir.

   I didn't have time to choose.

2. (obsolete) to perceive, distinguish

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, nourrir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Derived terms

• de deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre
• entre deux maux, il faut choisir le moindre

Related terms

• choix

Further reading

• “choisir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French choisir, coisir (“to differentiate, see distinctly”), Frankish *kauʀijan (“to choose”) or Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan), both from Proto-Germanic *kauzijaną (“to choose, taste, test”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵews- (“to choose, taste”).

Verb

choisir

1. to choose

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.