braire

French

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *bragiō, from Gaulish *bragu (compare Old Irish braigid (“to flatulate”)), from Proto-Celtic *bragyeti (“to flatulate”). Cognate with English bray.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁɛʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

braire (defective)

1. bray (to make the cry of a donkey)
2. (figuratively, by extension) to shout
3. (Belgium, Northern France, figuratively, by extension) to cry, to weep

Conjugation

This verb traditionally has no past historic or imperfect subjunctive. They would be formed on a -bray- root: *je brayis, *que nous brayissions etc. Forms using the 'a' endings of verbs in -er are now used when there is an unavoidable need to use these forms. The root -brais- was used instead of -bray- in the 18th century, and remains in Swiss and Savoy dialects.

Conjugation of braire (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	braire
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	brayant /bʁɛ.jɑ̃/ or /bʁe.jɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		brait /bʁɛ/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	brais /bʁɛ/	brais /bʁɛ/	brait /bʁɛ/	brayons /bʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /bʁe.jɔ̃/	brayez /bʁɛ.je/ or /bʁe.je/	braient /bʁɛ/
	imperfect	brayais /bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /bʁe.jɛ/	brayais /bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /bʁe.jɛ/	brayait /bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /bʁe.jɛ/	brayions /bʁɛj.jɔ̃/	brayiez /bʁɛj.je/	brayaient /bʁɛ.jɛ/ or /bʁe.jɛ/
	past historic2	brayai /bʁɛe/	brayas /bʁɛa/	braya /bʁɛa/	brayâmes /bʁɛam/	brayâtes /bʁɛat/	brayèrent /bʁɛɛʁ/
	future	brairai /bʁɛ.ʁe/ or /bʁe.ʁe/	brairas /bʁɛ.ʁa/ or /bʁe.ʁa/	braira /bʁɛ.ʁa/ or /bʁe.ʁa/	brairons /bʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /bʁe.ʁɔ̃/	brairez /bʁɛ.ʁe/ or /bʁe.ʁe/	brairont /bʁɛ.ʁɔ̃/ or /bʁe.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	brairais /bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /bʁe.ʁɛ/	brairais /bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /bʁe.ʁɛ/	brairait /bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /bʁe.ʁɛ/	brairions /bʁɛ.ʁjɔ̃/ or /bʁe.ʁjɔ̃/	brairiez /bʁɛ.ʁje/ or /bʁe.ʁje/	brairaient /bʁɛ.ʁɛ/ or /bʁe.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	braie /bʁɛ/	braies /bʁɛ/	braie /bʁɛ/	brayions /bʁɛj.jɔ̃/	brayiez /bʁɛj.je/	braient /bʁɛ/
	imperfect2	brayasse /bʁɛas/	brayasses /bʁɛas/	brayât /bʁɛa/	brayassions /bʁɛa.sjɔ̃/	brayassiez /bʁɛa.sje/	brayassent /bʁɛas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	brais /bʁɛ/	—	brayons /bʁɛ.jɔ̃/ or /bʁe.jɔ̃/	brayez /bʁɛ.je/ or /bʁe.je/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Noun

braire m (plural braires)

1. (obsolete) bray (noise made by a donkey)

Synonyms

• braiment, braîment
• braiement

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• abrier, barrie

Norman

Etymology

From Old French braire, from Gaulish.

Verb

braire

1. to bray
2. to shout out

Conjugation

    Conjugation of the verb « braire » in Norman

infinitive			braire
gerund			brayant
auxiliary			aveir1
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		brait		braite
		plural		braits		braites
		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		je (j')	tu (t')	il, alle, nos	je (nos)	vos	il, alles
	present	brais	brais	brait	brayoms	brayez	braient
	imperfect	brayeis	brayeis	brayeit	brayioms	brayiez	brayeient
	preterite	brayis	brayis	brayit	brayîmes	brayîtes	brayîtrent
	future	brairai	brairas	braira	brairoms	brairez	brairont
	conditional	braireis	braireis	braireit	brairioms	brairiez	braireient
subjunctive		que je (j')	que te (t')	qu'il, qu'alle, que nos	que je (que nos)	que vos	qu'il, qu'alles
	present	braie	braies	braie	brayioms	brayiez	braient
	imperfect	brayisse	brayisses	brayît brayisse	brayissioms	brayissiez	brayissent
imperative		—	tu	—	je (nos)	vos	—
			brais		brayoms	brayez
1Used with past participles.

Related terms

• ébraire

Old French

Alternative forms

• braer, brere

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *bragiāre, from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *bragyeti (“to fart”).

Verb

braire

1. (of an animal) to bray
2. (less common, of a person) to cry out; to shout out

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of braire (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		braire			avoir brait
gerund		en braiant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		braiant
past participle		brait
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	brai	brais	brait	braions	braiez	braient
	imperfect	braioie, braieie	braioies, braieies	braioit, braieit	braiiiens, braiiens	braiiiez, braiiez	braioient, braieient
	preterite	brais	braisis	braist	braisimes	braisistes	braistrent
	future	brairai	brairas	braira	brairons	brairoiz, braireiz, brairez	brairont
	conditional	brairoie, braireie	brairoies, braireies	brairoit, braireit	brairiiens, brairiens	brairiiez, brairiez	brairoient, braireient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	braie	braies	braie	braions	braiez	braient
	imperfect	braisisse	braisisses	braisist	braisissons, braisissiens	braisissoiz, braisissez, braisissiez	braisissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	brai	—	braions	braiez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: braire, brere, brayre
  • French: braire
• → Middle English: brayen, brai, bray, braye
  • English: bray
  • Middle Scots: bray