French word

taire

Pronunciation

IPA/tɛʁ/

Meaning

  • verbkeep quiet

Example

Pendant la réunion, il s'est tu.

During the meeting, he kept quiet.

Illustration for taire (keep quiet)

More examples

À l'école, Léo se tait pour écouter la maîtresse.

At school, Leo keeps quiet so he can listen to his teacher.

Pour ne pas blesser, il a décidé de taire ses sentiments.

In order not to hurt anyone, he decided to keep his feelings to himself.

Core concept

A voice stopping so that silence takes its place.

Common phrases

  • se taire

    keep silent

  • taire ses sentiments

    keep one's feelings to oneself

Similar words

se taire: To choose to stop speaking and become quiet.
garder le silence: To stay quiet without saying a word.
cacher: To conceal an object or information from view.

Definition in French

Exprime le fait de cesser de parler; s'emploie surtout sous la forme pronominale se taire, avec le participe passé tu.

Word origin

Taire descends from Latin tacere through Old French, and its past participle tu is an irregular inherited form.

Usage tips

  • The common pronominal form is se taire, as in il s'est tu, while taire quelque chose means to keep something silent.

Other meanings

  • silenceverb
  • concealverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word