aigre

English

Etymology

French. See eager.

Adjective

aigre (comparative more aigre, superlative most aigre)

  1. (obsolete) Alternative spelling of eager (“sour”)

Anagrams

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French aigre, from Vulgar Latin ācrus (possibly via a southern Gallo-Romance dialect), from Latin ācer (with a change in declension), from Proto-Italic *akris, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱrós (“sharp”). Doublet of âcre, which was borrowed from Latin.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ɛɡʁ/
  • Audio(file)

Adjective

aigre (plural aigres)

  1. sharp, sour, acid
    Synonym: acide
    cerises aigres
    sour cherries
  2. shrill (voice); biting (wind etc.)
    la voix aigre des cornemuses
    the shrill voice of the bagpipes
    • 2007, Georges Chétochine, La vérité sur les gestes, page 169:
      Le ton de sa voix un peu aigre et nasillard est parfaitement synchronisé avec son regard langoureux, humain.
      The sound of his voice, a little shrill and nasal, is perfectly synchronised with his languid, human look.

Derived terms

Further reading

Anagrams

Old French

Etymology

From Late Latin ācrus, from Latin ācer (with a change in declension), from Proto-Italic *akris, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ḱrós (“sharp”). The unexpected /ɡ/ may point to this form being borrowed from southern Gallo-Romance dialects.[1] Cf. the variant aire, which shows the phonologically regular outcome for Old French.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): (early) /ˈai̯ɡɾə/
  • IPA(key): (late) /ˈɛɡɾə/

Adjective

aigre m (oblique and nominative feminine singular aigre)

  1. sharp, sour, acid

Descendants

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