égrener

From é- +‎ grain +‎ -er.

• IPA^(key): /e.ɡʁə.ne/

• Audio:

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• Audio:

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égrener

1. to shell, pod (maize, peas, wheat etc.)

   Synonym: écosser

2. to gin (cotton)
3. to ripple (flax)
4. (reflexive) to drop off the stalk or bunch
5. (figurative) to dish out
6. (figurative) to rattle off, go through (a list), tick away (time)
   • 1973, Claude Simon, Tryptique, Éditions de Minuit, page 12:

     Les sons de la cloche égrenant les quarts, les demies et les heures […]

     The sounds of the clock rattling off the quarters, the halves and the hours

   • 2000, Jean-François Parot, L'énigme des Blancs-Manteaux, JC Lattès, published 2012, page 12:

     Il chut de tout son long, égrenant à nouveau un chapelet d’horribles jurons.

     He fell full length, reeling off another string of appalling curses.

   • 2002, “Tous mes vœux”, in La Femme Trombone, performed by Les Rita Mitsouko:

     Je pleure et fête la perte de l’ovule / Cette mort minuscule / Sereine / Qu’égrène / Le fil du temps

     I cry over, and celebrate, a lost ovum / This tiny death / Serene / That grinds away / The course of time

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il égrène and the third-person singular future indicative il égrènera.

• égrenage

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

• générer