noyer

• IPA^(key): /nwa.je/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: noyers, noyé, noyés, noyée, noyées, noyai, noyez

From Vulgar Latin nucārius (“nut tree”) from Classical Latin nux. Compare Spanish noguera, Portuguese nogueira, Catalan noguera, Occitan noguièr. Equivalent to noix +‎ -ier.

noyer m (plural noyers)

1. walnut (tree)

• noyer du Brésil

• noix (walnut, the nut)

Inherited from Old French noier, neier, from Latin necāre (“kill”). The sense of "to drown" can be found in other Romance cognates; compare Catalan negar, Italian annegare, Spanish anegar, Romanian îneca.

noyer

1. (reflexive, literal and figurative) to drown; to drown oneself

   Elle s’est noyée dans l’océan.

   She drowned in the ocean.

2. (transitive, literal and figurative) to drown

   J’ai noyé mon chien dans le fleuve.

   I drowned my dog in the river.

   • 1640, Pierre Corneille, Horace, act I, scene 3:

     Et noyons dans l’oubli ces petits différends

     And let us drown in oblivion these petty disputes

3. (transitive, cooking) to dilute; to water down

   Il faut noyer le vin avec de l’eau.

   You must water down the wine.

This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like employer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the 'y' with an 'i' before a silent 'e'.

This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like employer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the 'y' with an 'i' before a silent 'e'.

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