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Webster 1913 Edition


Devoir


De-voir′

,
Noun.
[F., fr. L.
debere
to owe. See
Due
.]
Duty; service owed; hence, due act of civility or respect; – now usually in the plural;
as, they paid their
devoirs
to the ladies
.
“Do now your devoid, young knights!”
Chaucer.

Webster 1828 Edition


Devoir

DEVOIR

,
Noun.
[L., to owe.] Primarily, service or duty. Hence, an act of civility or respect; respectful notice due to another; as, we paid our devoirs to the queen, or to the ladies.

Definition 2024


devoir

devoir

English

Noun

devoir (plural devoirs)

  1. (archaic, often in plural) Duty, business; something that one must do.

Anagrams


French

Etymology

From Old French deveir, from Latin dēbēre, present active infinitive of dēbeō (to owe, to be duty bound to do something).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dəvwaʁ/
  • Rhymes: -waʁ

Noun

devoir m (plural devoirs)

  1. duty
  2. exercise (set for homework)

Derived terms

Verb

devoir

  1. must, to have to (as a requirement)
  2. must, to do or have with certainty
  3. (transitive) to owe (money, obligation and etc)
  4. (literary, intransitive, in imperfect subjunctive, with inversion of subject) (even) though it be necessary (+ infinitive)
    • 1842, George Sand, Consuelo:
      Eh bien, se dit-elle, j'irai, dussé-je affronter les dangers réels [...]. ⇒ Well, she said to herself, I'll go, even if I have to face real danger.
  5. (reflexive, ~ à) to have a duty to

Conjugation

Usage notes

  • The past participle drops the circumflex accent in its other forms: feminine singular due; masculine plural dus; feminine plural dues.

Derived terms

See also


Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin dēbēre, present active infinitive of dēbeō (I owe, I am duty bound to do something).

Verb

devoir

  1. (modal) to have to; must
  2. to owe

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has a stressed present stem doiv distinct from the unstressed stem dev, as well as other irregularities. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

  • The trema on the u of the past participle deü is not used by all authors.
  • The feminine forms of the past participle are more commonly spelled due and dues, though deue and deues are attested.

Noun

devoir m (oblique plural devoirs, nominative singular devoirs, nominative plural devoir)

  1. debt

Descendants

  • English: due (from past participle deu, deü)
  • Middle French: debvoir

References

  • (fr) Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (devoir)
  • “Appendix E: Irregular Verbs” in E. Einhorn (1974), Old French: A Concise Handbook, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-09838-6, pages 152–153