jouir

See also: jouïr

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French jouir, jouïr, iouyr, from Old French joïr, from Vulgar Latin *gaudīre (*gaudiō), from Latin gaudēre. Doublet of gaudir, which was a borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʒwiʁ/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -wiʁ

Verb

jouir

1. to enjoy [+ de (object)]

   Synonym: bénéficier

   Il jouissait d’une santé à toute épreuve. ― He enjoyed unfailing health.

   • 1879, Alfred Barbou, Les Trois Républiques françaises [The Three French Republics], A. Duquesne:

     Quant au duc d’Orléans, il jouissait de peu de popularité et de peu d’influence.

     As for the duke of Orleans, he enjoyed little popularity and little influence.

2. (intransitive) to have an orgasm; to come, cum; to ejaculate

   Hyponyms: éjaculer, (vulgar) se vider les couilles

   • 1926, Pierre Louÿs, Trois filles de leur mère [Three Daughters of their Mother], Paris: René Bonnel:

     Quand je baise, la peur que j’ai d’être enceinte me coupe toute envie de jouir. Je n’aime pas baiser.

     When I fuck, the fear I have of being pregnant puts a stop to any desire to cum. I don't like fucking.

Conjugation

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-.

Conjugation of jouir (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	jouir
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	jouissant /ʒwi.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		joui /ʒwi/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	jouis /ʒwi/	jouis /ʒwi/	jouit /ʒwi/	jouissons /ʒwi.sɔ̃/	jouissez /ʒwi.se/	jouissent /ʒwis/
	imperfect	jouissais /ʒwi.sɛ/	jouissais /ʒwi.sɛ/	jouissait /ʒwi.sɛ/	jouissions /ʒwi.sjɔ̃/	jouissiez /ʒwi.sje/	jouissaient /ʒwi.sɛ/
	past historic2	jouis /ʒwi/	jouis /ʒwi/	jouit /ʒwi/	jouîmes /ʒwim/	jouîtes /ʒwit/	jouirent /ʒwiʁ/
	future	jouirai /ʒwi.ʁe/	jouiras /ʒwi.ʁa/	jouira /ʒwi.ʁa/	jouirons /ʒwi.ʁɔ̃/	jouirez /ʒwi.ʁe/	jouiront /ʒwi.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	jouirais /ʒwi.ʁɛ/	jouirais /ʒwi.ʁɛ/	jouirait /ʒwi.ʁɛ/	jouirions /ʒwi.ʁjɔ̃/	jouiriez /ʒwi.ʁje/	jouiraient /ʒwi.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	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
(simple tenses)	present	jouisse /ʒwis/	jouisses /ʒwis/	jouisse /ʒwis/	jouissions /ʒwi.sjɔ̃/	jouissiez /ʒwi.sje/	jouissent /ʒwis/
	imperfect2	jouisse /ʒwis/	jouisses /ʒwis/	jouît /ʒwi/	jouissions /ʒwi.sjɔ̃/	jouissiez /ʒwi.sje/	jouissent /ʒwis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	jouis /ʒwi/	—	jouissons /ʒwi.sɔ̃/	jouissez /ʒwi.se/	—
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).

Derived terms

• jouissance
• jouisseur
• peine-à-jouir

 

Related terms

• joie

Further reading

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

Middle French

Verb

jouir

1. Alternative form of iouyr