guérir

French

Alternative forms

• garir (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French guérir, guerir, garir, from Old French garir, guarir (“to guarantee, protect, give health to”), from Frankish *warjan (“to defend, protect”), from Proto-Germanic *warjaną (“to defend, guard”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cover, defend, guard, heed”). Cognate with Old High German werien (“to defend, protect”), Old English werian (“to guard, keep, defend”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡe.ʁiʁ/

• audio

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Verb

guérir

1. (transitive) to cure, to heal

   Le médecin va le guérir. ― The doctor is going to heal it.

   • 1898, Revue du monde invisible, page 339:

     Notre imagination, si ardente qu’on la suppose, ne peut ni guérir instantanément une lésion organique, ni ressusciter un mort.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (transitive, figurative) to cure, to heal
   • 2018, Zaz, Qué vendrá:

     Puisque nous sommes ici sans savoir ce qui nous attend un peu plus tard, laisser parler mon instinct me guérit.

     Since we're here without knowing what awaits us a little bit later, letting my instinct speak heals me.

3. (intransitive or pronominal, with passive sense) to recover, to heal

   Il se guérira peu à peu. ― It will heal little by little.

Conjugation

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

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, 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

• mieux vaut prévenir que guérir

Related terms

• guérison
• guérissable
  • inguérissable
• guérisseur

Further reading

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