narguer

French

Etymology

Probably from Vulgar Latin *nārificō, a humourous derivation of Latin nāris (“nose”). through an intermediate Occitan nariguar.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naʁ.ɡe/

• Audio

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Verb

narguer

1. (transitive) to taunt
   • 1861, Charles Baudelaire, “Allégorie”, in Les Fleurs du mal [The Flowers of Evil], 2nd edition, Paris: Poulet-Malassis et De Broise:

     Elle rit à la Mort et nargue la Débauche, / Ces monstres dont la main, qui toujours gratte et fauche, […]

     She laughs at Death and taunts Debauchery, / Those monsters whose hands, which are always scratching and scything, […]

   • 1865, Jules Verne, chapter 27, in De la Terre à la Lune [From the Earth to the Moon], J. Hetzel et Compagnie, published 1868:

     Le 8, rien. Le 9, le soleil reparut un instant comme pour narguer les Américains. Il fut couvert de huées, et, blessé sans doute d’un pareil accueil, il se montra fort avare de ses rayons.

     On the 8th, nothing. On the 9th, the sun reappeared for a moment, as if to taunt the Americans. It was met with boos, and, no doubt hurt by this reception, proved to be very miserly with its rays.

Conjugation

Conjugation of narguer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	narguer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	narguant /naʁ.ɡɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		nargué /naʁ.ɡe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	nargue /naʁɡ/	nargues /naʁɡ/	nargue /naʁɡ/	narguons /naʁ.ɡɔ̃/	narguez /naʁ.ɡe/	narguent /naʁɡ/
	imperfect	narguais /naʁ.ɡɛ/	narguais /naʁ.ɡɛ/	narguait /naʁ.ɡɛ/	narguions /naʁ.ɡjɔ̃/	narguiez /naʁ.ɡje/	narguaient /naʁ.ɡɛ/
	past historic2	narguai /naʁ.ɡe/	narguas /naʁ.ɡa/	nargua /naʁ.ɡa/	narguâmes /naʁ.ɡam/	narguâtes /naʁ.ɡat/	narguèrent /naʁ.ɡɛʁ/
	future	narguerai /naʁ.ɡə.ʁe/	nargueras /naʁ.ɡə.ʁa/	narguera /naʁ.ɡə.ʁa/	narguerons /naʁ.ɡə.ʁɔ̃/	narguerez /naʁ.ɡə.ʁe/	nargueront /naʁ.ɡə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	narguerais /naʁ.ɡə.ʁɛ/	narguerais /naʁ.ɡə.ʁɛ/	narguerait /naʁ.ɡə.ʁɛ/	narguerions /naʁ.ɡə.ʁjɔ̃/	nargueriez /naʁ.ɡə.ʁje/	nargueraient /naʁ.ɡə.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	nargue /naʁɡ/	nargues /naʁɡ/	nargue /naʁɡ/	narguions /naʁ.ɡjɔ̃/	narguiez /naʁ.ɡje/	narguent /naʁɡ/
	imperfect2	narguasse /naʁ.ɡas/	narguasses /naʁ.ɡas/	narguât /naʁ.ɡa/	narguassions /naʁ.ɡa.sjɔ̃/	narguassiez /naʁ.ɡa.sje/	narguassent /naʁ.ɡas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	nargue /naʁɡ/	—	narguons /naʁ.ɡɔ̃/	narguez /naʁ.ɡe/	—
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).

Further reading

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