bosser
French, verb/bɔ.se/
bosser is spelled B-O-S-S-E-R (6 letters) and appears 17 times per million words in written French, the 4,479th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bosser is a French verb meaning “to work, labour, do a day's work” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Mettre l’ancre sur ses bossoirs, retenir avec des bosses”.
What does bosser mean in English?
verb
- 1
informalto work, labour, do a day's work
Toute la journée il bosse, et pour que dalle.
- 2
informalto train (for something), work on (something), study, improve (on something)
Je dois encore bosser (sur) mon solfège ce weekend.
verb
- 1
to emboss
- 2
to dent; to cause a dent
- 3
to raise an anchor over the davit(s)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Mettre l’ancre sur ses bossoirs, retenir avec des bosses. 2. Faire une bosse.
verb: 1. Travailler.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of bosser
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- bossant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- bossé participle past
- bosse first-person indicative present
- bosses indicative present second-person
- bossons first-person indicative plural
- bossez indicative plural present
- bossent indicative plural present
- bossais first-person imperfect indicative
- bossait imperfect indicative singular
- bossions first-person imperfect indicative
- bossiez imperfect indicative plural
- bossaient imperfect indicative plural
- bossai first-person historic indicative
- bossas historic indicative past
- bossa historic indicative past
- bossâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce bosser?
- /bɔ.se/
- \bɔ.se\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to bosser
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bosser in French?
bosser appears 17 times per million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).