French word

dur

Pronunciation

IPA/dyʁ/

Meaning

  • adjectivehard

Example

Le pain est dur.

The bread is hard.

Illustration for dur (hard)

More examples

J'ai mangé un œuf dur ce matin.

I ate a hard-boiled egg this morning.

Core concept

Something that does not yield when pressed or challenged.

Common phrases

  • pain dur

    hard bread

  • œuf dur

    hard-boiled egg

  • sol dur

    hard ground

Similar words

difficile: Requiring considerable effort or time to complete.
solide: Strong and built to withstand force without breaking or collapsing.

Definition in French

Qui a une consistance ferme et qui résiste au pliage ou à la pression; au figuré, qui exige beaucoup d'effort ou qui se montre inflexible.

Word origin

French dur is inherited from Latin durus through Old French, with physical hardness extending to difficult demands and inflexible behavior.

Usage tips

  • The pattern dur à + infinitive means "hard to...", as in dur à comprendre for "hard to understand".

Other meanings

  • difficultadjective
  • harshadjective
  • toughadjective

Opposites

  • mousoftadjective

Related words

Word lists with this word