barboter

French

Etymology

From earlier barbetter (“to dig about”), from Middle French borbeter (“to shake in the mud”), of uncertain origin:.

• Possibly from barbe (“beard”) +‎ -oter
• From bourbouter (“wading (in mud)”), from bourbe (“mud, mire”)
• From an onomatopoeic root influenced by Latin ballus, from Ancient Greek βαλλίζω (ballízō, “to jump about”); this is also found in the second element of the genus Zygoballus
• Less likely, related to the fish barbote

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baʁ.bɔ.te/

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Verb

barboter

1. to splash
2. (colloquial) to nick, to pinch (to steal)

Conjugation

Conjugation of barboter (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	barboter
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	barbotant /baʁ.bɔ.tɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		barboté /baʁ.bɔ.te/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	barbote /baʁ.bɔt/	barbotes /baʁ.bɔt/	barbote /baʁ.bɔt/	barbotons /baʁ.bɔ.tɔ̃/	barbotez /baʁ.bɔ.te/	barbotent /baʁ.bɔt/
	imperfect	barbotais /baʁ.bɔ.tɛ/	barbotais /baʁ.bɔ.tɛ/	barbotait /baʁ.bɔ.tɛ/	barbotions /baʁ.bɔ.tjɔ̃/	barbotiez /baʁ.bɔ.tje/	barbotaient /baʁ.bɔ.tɛ/
	past historic2	barbotai /baʁ.bɔ.te/	barbotas /baʁ.bɔ.ta/	barbota /baʁ.bɔ.ta/	barbotâmes /baʁ.bɔ.tam/	barbotâtes /baʁ.bɔ.tat/	barbotèrent /baʁ.bɔ.tɛʁ/
	future	barboterai /baʁ.bɔ.tʁe/	barboteras /baʁ.bɔ.tʁa/	barbotera /baʁ.bɔ.tʁa/	barboterons /baʁ.bɔ.tʁɔ̃/	barboterez /baʁ.bɔ.tʁe/	barboteront /baʁ.bɔ.tʁɔ̃/
	conditional	barboterais /baʁ.bɔ.tʁɛ/	barboterais /baʁ.bɔ.tʁɛ/	barboterait /baʁ.bɔ.tʁɛ/	barboterions /baʁ.bɔ.tə.ʁjɔ̃/	barboteriez /baʁ.bɔ.tə.ʁje/	barboteraient /baʁ.bɔ.tʁɛ/
(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	barbote /baʁ.bɔt/	barbotes /baʁ.bɔt/	barbote /baʁ.bɔt/	barbotions /baʁ.bɔ.tjɔ̃/	barbotiez /baʁ.bɔ.tje/	barbotent /baʁ.bɔt/
	imperfect2	barbotasse /baʁ.bɔ.tas/	barbotasses /baʁ.bɔ.tas/	barbotât /baʁ.bɔ.ta/	barbotassions /baʁ.bɔ.ta.sjɔ̃/	barbotassiez /baʁ.bɔ.ta.sje/	barbotassent /baʁ.bɔ.tas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	barbote /baʁ.bɔt/	—	barbotons /baʁ.bɔ.tɔ̃/	barbotez /baʁ.bɔ.te/	—
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).

Related terms

• barboteur

Further reading

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