morfondre

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French morfondre. Cognate with English morfound.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɔʁ.fɔ̃dʁ/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

morfondre

  1. (transitive, dated) to depress, bore
    Son attitude hautaine morfondait les jeunes gens.
    His haughty attitude bored the youngsters.
  2. (transitive, dated) to cool
    Le vent glacial nous morfondait.
    The glacial wind chilled us.
  3. (reflexive) to mope around (wander or linger aimlessly)
    Seule dans sa chambre elle se morfondait toute la journée.
    Alone in her room, she moped around all day long.
    • 1894, Crafty, À travers Paris, page 10:
      [] la partie féminine du chargement du fiacre se morfond en attendant la solution du conflit.
      [] the female part of the fiacre's cargo is moping while waiting for the conflict to be resolved.
    • 2011 October 31, Frédéric Lewino, “Mouna aurait cent ans”, in Le Point[1]:
      À quoi sert la vie, l'amour ? Il se morfond jusqu'à ce jour de 1951 où Antonio l'Argentin pénètre dans son établissement.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

Further reading

Middle French

Etymology

mor (snout) +‎ fondre. The first part comes from Franco-Provençal mor, more (snout), from Vulgar Latin *murrum (muzzle, snout), and the second from Latin fundere.

Verb

morfondre

  1. (unusually in the past participle morfondu) to chill; to cool
  2. to fatigue; to tire

Descendants

  • Middle English: morfounden, morefounden

References

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (morfondre)
  • morfondre on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)