singer - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Inherited from Middle English synger, syngere, singere, singare, equivalent to sing +‎ -er. Cognate with Scots singar, Saterland Frisian Sjunger, West Frisian sjonger, German Low German Singer. Compare also Old English sangere, Dutch zanger, German Low German Sänger, German Sänger (“singer”), Danish sanger, Swedish sångare, Icelandic söngvari.

singer (plural singers)

  1. A person who sings, often professionally.
    It's the singer, not the song.
  2. (square dance) dance figure with a fixed structure, sung by a caller, or a piece of music with that structure.

person who sings (male or generic term)

female person who sings

From singe +‎ -er.

singer (plural singers)

  1. A person who, or device which, singes.
  2. A machine for singeing cloth.

In at least the ape sense, from singe (“monkey”).

singer

  1. to ape
    • 2019, Alain Damasio, chapter 3, in Les furtifs [The Stealthies], La Volte, →ISBN:
      […] nous privilégions tous les deux les « interfaces humaines », comme ils disent, même quand elles singent, comme ici, une mauvaise IA.
      […] we both favour "human interfaces", as they say, even when they mimic, as here, a bad AI.
  2. to sprinkle with flour

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written singe- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a "soft" /ʒ/ and not a "hard" /ɡ/). This spelling change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.

infinitive simple singer
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple singeant/sɛ̃.ʒɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle singé/sɛ̃.ʒe/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simpletenses) present singe/sɛ̃ʒ/ singes/sɛ̃ʒ/ singe/sɛ̃ʒ/ singeons/sɛ̃.ʒɔ̃/ singez/sɛ̃.ʒe/ singent/sɛ̃ʒ/
imperfect singeais/sɛ̃.ʒɛ/ singeais/sɛ̃.ʒɛ/ singeait/sɛ̃.ʒɛ/ singions/sɛ̃.ʒjɔ̃/ singiez/sɛ̃.ʒje/ singeaient/sɛ̃.ʒɛ/
past historic2 singeai/sɛ̃.ʒe/ singeas/sɛ̃.ʒa/ singea/sɛ̃.ʒa/ singeâmes/sɛ̃.ʒam/ singeâtes/sɛ̃.ʒat/ singèrent/sɛ̃.ʒɛʁ/
future singerai/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁe/ singeras/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁa/ singera/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁa/ singerons/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁɔ̃/ singerez/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁe/ singeront/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁɔ̃/
conditional singerais/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/ singerais/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/ singerait/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/ singerions/sɛ̃.ʒə.ʁjɔ̃/ singeriez/sɛ̃.ʒə.ʁje/ singeraient/sɛ̃ʒ.ʁɛ/
(compoundtenses) 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
(simpletenses) present singe/sɛ̃ʒ/ singes/sɛ̃ʒ/ singe/sɛ̃ʒ/ singions/sɛ̃.ʒjɔ̃/ singiez/sɛ̃.ʒje/ singent/sɛ̃ʒ/
imperfect2 singeasse/sɛ̃.ʒas/ singeasses/sɛ̃.ʒas/ singeât/sɛ̃.ʒa/ singeassions/sɛ̃.ʒa.sjɔ̃/ singeassiez/sɛ̃.ʒa.sje/ singeassent/sɛ̃.ʒas/
(compoundtenses) past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — singe/sɛ̃ʒ/ — singeons/sɛ̃.ʒɔ̃/ singez/sɛ̃.ʒe/ —
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).