caresser
French, verb/ka.ʁɛ.se/
caresser is spelled C-A-R-E-S-S-E-R (8 letters) and appears 3.1 times per million words in written French, the 15,592nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Caresser is a French verb meaning “to stroke; to caress (to move the hand over the surface of)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Faire des caresses de la main ou des lèvres”.
What does caresser mean in English?
verb
- 1
to stroke; to caress (to move the hand over the surface of)
- 2
to toy with
- 3
to touch up; put the final touches on
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Faire des caresses de la main ou des lèvres. 2. Frôler. 3. Flatter ; cajoler. 4. Se complaire dans un travail ou dans une pensée.
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 caresser
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- caressant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- caressé participle past
- caresse first-person indicative present
- caresses indicative present second-person
- caressons first-person indicative plural
- caressez indicative plural present
- caressent indicative plural present
- caressais first-person imperfect indicative
- caressait imperfect indicative singular
- caressions first-person imperfect indicative
- caressiez imperfect indicative plural
- caressaient imperfect indicative plural
- caressai first-person historic indicative
- caressas historic indicative past
- caressa historic indicative past
- caressâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce caresser?
- /ka.ʁɛ.se/
- /ka.ʁe.se/
- \ka.ʁe.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 caresser
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is caresser in French?
caresser appears 3.1 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).