entamer

French

Etymology

From Provençal entamenar, from Latin intaminare, from Latin in- + tangere + -are.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.ta.me/

• Audio:

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• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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Verb

entamer

1. to cut into (something)

   entamer la peau ― cut into the skin

2. to remove a small piece of something

   entamer un pain, un melon, un pâté ― cut a piece of bread, melon, pâté

3. (card games) to lead (play the first card)
4. (figurative) to eat into (savings etc.); to undermine (credibility)
   • 2024 (13 February), Nicolas Revise, "Victoire démocrate à une législative à New York pour remplacer George Santos", La Presse:

     Avec cette victoire du démocrate centriste Tom Suozzi contre la républicaine Mazi Pilip, [...] les démocrates entament encore un peu plus la très mince majorité du Parti républicain de Donald Trump à la Chambre [...]

     With this victory of the centrist Democrat Tom Suozzi against the Republican Mazi Pilip, the Democrats are eating a little bit further into the very slim majority held by Donald Trump's Republican Party in the House of Representatives.

5. (figurative) to start, to begin, initiate

   Synonym: commencer

   • 1954, Françoise Sagan, Bonjour Tristesse:

     Comme elle ne me prêtait pas attention, je m'installai tranquillement sur une marche avec une tasse de café et une orange et entamai les délices du matin : je mordais une orange, un jus sucré giclait dans ma bouche ; une gorgée de café noir brûlant, aussitôt, et à nouveau la fraîcheur du fruit.

     As she was paying no attention to me, I installed myself tranquilly on a step with a cup of coffee and an orange and began my morning ritual: I bit into an orange, a sugary juice spurting into my mouth; a swallow of burning hot black coffee, immediately after, and then again the freshness of the fruit.

   • 2017, Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors, Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques, Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 172 footnote 232:

     Malgré l’absence de traces du mot grec dans les dictionnaires du copte, on peut suspecter […] que les Arabes aient trouvé ces notions et les mots correspondants pendant leur longue occupation de l’Égypte avant d’entamer la conquête de l’Ouest.

     Notwithstanding the absence of any trace of the Greek word in the Coptic dictionaries one can assume that the Arabs have found these notions and corresponding words during their long occupation of Egypt before going over to the conquest of the West.

Conjugation

Conjugation of entamer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	entamer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	entamant /ɑ̃.ta.mɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		entamé /ɑ̃.ta.me/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	entame /ɑ̃.tam/	entames /ɑ̃.tam/	entame /ɑ̃.tam/	entamons /ɑ̃.ta.mɔ̃/	entamez /ɑ̃.ta.me/	entament /ɑ̃.tam/
	imperfect	entamais /ɑ̃.ta.mɛ/	entamais /ɑ̃.ta.mɛ/	entamait /ɑ̃.ta.mɛ/	entamions /ɑ̃.ta.mjɔ̃/	entamiez /ɑ̃.ta.mje/	entamaient /ɑ̃.ta.mɛ/
	past historic2	entamai /ɑ̃.ta.me/	entamas /ɑ̃.ta.ma/	entama /ɑ̃.ta.ma/	entamâmes /ɑ̃.ta.mam/	entamâtes /ɑ̃.ta.mat/	entamèrent /ɑ̃.ta.mɛʁ/
	future	entamerai /ɑ̃.tam.ʁe/	entameras /ɑ̃.tam.ʁa/	entamera /ɑ̃.tam.ʁa/	entamerons /ɑ̃.tam.ʁɔ̃/	entamerez /ɑ̃.tam.ʁe/	entameront /ɑ̃.tam.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	entamerais /ɑ̃.tam.ʁɛ/	entamerais /ɑ̃.tam.ʁɛ/	entamerait /ɑ̃.tam.ʁɛ/	entamerions /ɑ̃.ta.mə.ʁjɔ̃/	entameriez /ɑ̃.ta.mə.ʁje/	entameraient /ɑ̃.tam.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	entame /ɑ̃.tam/	entames /ɑ̃.tam/	entame /ɑ̃.tam/	entamions /ɑ̃.ta.mjɔ̃/	entamiez /ɑ̃.ta.mje/	entament /ɑ̃.tam/
	imperfect2	entamasse /ɑ̃.ta.mas/	entamasses /ɑ̃.ta.mas/	entamât /ɑ̃.ta.ma/	entamassions /ɑ̃.ta.ma.sjɔ̃/	entamassiez /ɑ̃.ta.ma.sje/	entamassent /ɑ̃.ta.mas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	entame /ɑ̃.tam/	—	entamons /ɑ̃.ta.mɔ̃/	entamez /ɑ̃.ta.me/	—
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

• rentamer

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• rentame, rentamé