poindre

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French poindre, puindre, from Latin pungere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pwɛ̃dʁ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -wɛ̃dʁ

Verb

poindre

1. (transitive, obsolete) to prick, sting
2. (transitive, literary) to sting, afflict (of pain, love etc.)
3. (intransitive) to come up (of a plant), peep through
4. (intransitive, literary) to break, dawn (of day); to break (of dawn)
5. (intransitive, figurative) to appear, spring up

Conjugation

This verb is conjugated like peindre. It uses the same endings as rendre or vendre, but its -nd- becomes -gn- before a vowel, and its past participle ends in 't' instead of a vowel.

Conjugation of poindre (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	poindre
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	poignant /pwa.ɲɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		point /pwɛ̃/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	poins /pwɛ̃/	poins /pwɛ̃/	point /pwɛ̃/	poignons /pwa.ɲɔ̃/	poignez /pwa.ɲe/	poignent /pwaɲ/
	imperfect	poignais /pwa.ɲɛ/	poignais /pwa.ɲɛ/	poignait /pwa.ɲɛ/	poignions /pwa.ɲjɔ̃/	poigniez /pwa.ɲje/	poignaient /pwa.ɲɛ/
	past historic2	poignis /pwa.ɲi/	poignis /pwa.ɲi/	poignit /pwa.ɲi/	poignîmes /pwa.ɲim/	poignîtes /pwa.ɲit/	poignirent /pwa.ɲiʁ/
	future	poindrai /pwɛ̃.dʁe/	poindras /pwɛ̃.dʁa/	poindra /pwɛ̃.dʁa/	poindrons /pwɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/	poindrez /pwɛ̃.dʁe/	poindront /pwɛ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	poindrais /pwɛ̃.dʁɛ/	poindrais /pwɛ̃.dʁɛ/	poindrait /pwɛ̃.dʁɛ/	poindrions /pwɛ̃.dʁi.jɔ̃/	poindriez /pwɛ̃.dʁi.je/	poindraient /pwɛ̃.dʁɛ/
(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	poigne /pwaɲ/	poignes /pwaɲ/	poigne /pwaɲ/	poignions /pwa.ɲjɔ̃/	poigniez /pwa.ɲje/	poignent /pwaɲ/
	imperfect2	poignisse /pwa.ɲis/	poignisses /pwa.ɲis/	poignît /pwa.ɲi/	poignissions /pwa.ɲi.sjɔ̃/	poignissiez /pwa.ɲi.sje/	poignissent /pwa.ɲis/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	poins /pwɛ̃/	—	poignons /pwa.ɲɔ̃/	poignez /pwa.ɲe/	—
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

• oignez vilain, il vous poindra ; poignez vilain, il vous oindra

Further reading

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

Old French

Alternative forms

• puindre

Etymology 1

From Latin pungere, present active infinitive of pungō.

Verb

poindre

1. to puncture; to pierce (rupture a membrane, etc.)
2. to sting; to prick

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb ends in a palatal stem, so there is an extra i before the e of some endings. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of poindre (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		poindre			avoir point
gerund		en poignant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		poignant
past participle		point
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	poing	poinz	point	poignons	poigniez	poignent
	imperfect	poignoie, poigneie	poignoies, poigneies	poignoit, poigneit	poigniiens, poigniens	poigniiez, poigniez	poignoient, poigneient
	preterite	poins	poinsis	poinst	poinsimes	poinsistes	poinstrent
	future	poindrai	poindras	poindra	poindrons	poindroiz, poindreiz, poindrez	poindront
	conditional	poindroie, poindreie	poindroies, poindreies	poindroit, poindreit	poindriiens, poindriens	poindriiez, poindriez	poindroient, poindreient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	poigne	poignes	poigne	poigniens, poignons	poigniez	poignent
	imperfect	poinsisse	poinsisses	poinsist	poinsissons, poinsissiens	poinsissoiz, poinsissez, poinsissiez	poinsissent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	poing	—	poignons	poigniez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: poindre
  • French: poindre
• → Middle English: poynen

Noun

poindre oblique singular, m (oblique plural poindres, nominative singular poindres, nominative plural poindre)

1. attack; assault
   • c. 1176, Chrétien de Troyes, Cligès:

     si fiert un Sesne et puis un autre
     si qu'anbedeus a un seul poindre

     He struck a Saxon then another
     both in the same attack

Related terms

• point

Etymology 2

See peindre.

Verb

poindre

1. Alternative form of peindre