cerner
French, verb/sɛʁ.ne/
cerner is spelled C-E-R-N-E-R (6 letters) and appears 3.5 times per million words in written French, the 14,223rd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Cerner is a French verb meaning “to surround” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Entourer, investir un lieu de manière à ôter toute communication, tout moyen de secours extérieur ou de fuite…”.
What does cerner mean in English?
verb
- 1
to surround
Les gendarmes cernèrent la maison où il s’était réfugié.
- 2
to figure out; to distinguish, identify the boundaries of
La discussion a aidé à cerner le problème.
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Entourer, investir un lieu de manière à ôter toute communication, tout moyen de secours extérieur ou de fuite à ceux qui s’y trouvent. 2. Faire un creux autour d’un arbre pour l’enlever avec ses racines ou pour l’entourer de bonne terre, de fumier, etc. 3. Séparer les noix vertes, de leur coque. 4. Appréhender, saisir les aspects d'une idée ou le caractère d'une personne.
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 cerner
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- cernant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- cerné participle past
- cerne first-person indicative present
- cernes indicative present second-person
- cernons first-person indicative plural
- cernez indicative plural present
- cernent indicative plural present
- cernais first-person imperfect indicative
- cernait imperfect indicative singular
- cernions first-person imperfect indicative
- cerniez imperfect indicative plural
- cernaient imperfect indicative plural
- cernai first-person historic indicative
- cernas historic indicative past
- cerna historic indicative past
- cernâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce cerner?
- /sɛʁ.ne/
- \sɛʁ.ne\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to cerner
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is cerner in French?
cerner appears 3.5 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).