adoucir

Inherited from Old French adolcir, from dolz, douz (“sweet”), from Latin dulcis (“sweet”). By surface analysis, a- +‎ doux +‎ -ir.

• IPA^(key): /a.du.siʁ/

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• Rhymes: -iʁ

adoucir

1. (transitive) (of foods, flavors, scents, etc.) to sweeten

   La sauce est trop salée ; je vais l’adoucir un peu. ― The sauce is too salty; I'll sweeten it a bit.

2. (transitive; figurative) (of any unpleasant thing) to make (more) agreeable, pleasant, mild, delicate, etc.

   adoucir la douleur ― to soften the pain

3. (transitive) (of something physically rough or coarse) to soften, to smooth
4. (transitive) (of water) to soften

   Il existe plusieurs méthodes pour adoucir l’eau. ― Several methods exist for softening water.

5. (transitive; figurative) to soften, to make more delicate; (of colors, as in visual arts like painting) to lighten, to brighten
6. (transitive; figuratively) to appease; to calm; to make less angry or aggressive
7. (takes a reflexive pronoun) to become sweeter; to become milder
8. (takes a reflexive pronoun; figurative) to become more pleasant or agreeable

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-.

• adoucissage
• adoucissement
• adoucisseur
• radoucir

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

• radouci