ravir

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French ravir, from Vulgar Latin *rapīre, from Latin rapere, from Proto-Italic *rapiō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rp-i-, from *h₁rep- (“to snatch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.viʁ/

• Audio:

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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• Audio (France (Somain)):

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Verb

ravir

1. to ravish (to seize by force)
2. to ravish, delight or thrill (transport with joy)
3. to charm, bewitch, dazzle or fascinate
4. to plunder, rob or loot
5. to kidnap or abduct

Conjugation

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

Conjugation of ravir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	ravir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	ravissant /ʁa.vi.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		ravi /ʁa.vi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	ravis /ʁa.vi/	ravis /ʁa.vi/	ravit /ʁa.vi/	ravissons /ʁa.vi.sɔ̃/	ravissez /ʁa.vi.se/	ravissent /ʁa.vis/
	imperfect	ravissais /ʁa.vi.sɛ/	ravissais /ʁa.vi.sɛ/	ravissait /ʁa.vi.sɛ/	ravissions /ʁa.vi.sjɔ̃/	ravissiez /ʁa.vi.sje/	ravissaient /ʁa.vi.sɛ/
	past historic2	ravis /ʁa.vi/	ravis /ʁa.vi/	ravit /ʁa.vi/	ravîmes /ʁa.vim/	ravîtes /ʁa.vit/	ravirent /ʁa.viʁ/
	future	ravirai /ʁa.vi.ʁe/	raviras /ʁa.vi.ʁa/	ravira /ʁa.vi.ʁa/	ravirons /ʁa.vi.ʁɔ̃/	ravirez /ʁa.vi.ʁe/	raviront /ʁa.vi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	ravirais /ʁa.vi.ʁɛ/	ravirais /ʁa.vi.ʁɛ/	ravirait /ʁa.vi.ʁɛ/	ravirions /ʁa.vi.ʁjɔ̃/	raviriez /ʁa.vi.ʁje/	raviraient /ʁa.vi.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	ravisse /ʁa.vis/	ravisses /ʁa.vis/	ravisse /ʁa.vis/	ravissions /ʁa.vi.sjɔ̃/	ravissiez /ʁa.vi.sje/	ravissent /ʁa.vis/
	imperfect2	ravisse /ʁa.vis/	ravisses /ʁa.vis/	ravît /ʁa.vi/	ravissions /ʁa.vi.sjɔ̃/	ravissiez /ʁa.vi.sje/	ravissent /ʁa.vis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	ravis /ʁa.vi/	—	ravissons /ʁa.vi.sɔ̃/	ravissez /ʁa.vi.se/	—
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).

Derived terms

• à ravir
• ravi
• ravissant
• ravissement
• ravisseur

Further reading

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

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *rapīre, from Latin rapere.

Verb

ravir

1. to ravish (to seize by force)
   • c. 1170, Wace, Le Roman de Rou:

     Li homes ont ocis e li aveirs raviz

     [They] killed the men and ravished their belongings

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a second-group verb (ending in -ir, with an -iss- infix). Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

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

		simple			compound
infinitive		ravir			avoir ravi
gerund		en ravissant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		ravissant
past participle		ravi
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	ravis	ravis	ravist	ravissons	ravissez	ravissent
	imperfect	ravissoie, ravisseie	ravissoies, ravisseies	ravissoit, ravisseit	ravissiiens, ravissiens	ravissiiez, ravissiez	ravissoient, ravisseient
	preterite	ravi	ravis	ravi	ravimes	ravistes	ravirent
	future	ravirai	raviras	ravira	ravirons	raviroiz, ravireiz, ravirez	raviront
	conditional	raviroie, ravireie	raviroies, ravireies	raviroit, ravireit	raviriiens, raviriens	raviriiez, raviriez	raviroient, ravireient
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	ravisse	ravisses	ravisse	ravissons	ravissez	ravissent
	imperfect	ravisse	ravisses	ravist	ravissons, ravissiens	ravissoiz, ravissez, ravissiez	ravissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	ravis	—	ravissons	ravissez	—

Descendants

• → English: ravish
• French: ravir