discerner
French, verb/di.sɛʁ.ne/
discerner is spelled D-I-S-C-E-R-N-E-R (9 letters) and appears 1.5 times per million words in written French, the 24,887th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Discerner is a French verb meaning “to discern” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Voir distinctement un objet de manière à ne pas le confondre avec un ou plusieurs autres”.
What does discerner mean in English?
verb
- 1
to discern
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Voir distinctement un objet de manière à ne pas le confondre avec un ou plusieurs autres. 2. Se rendre un compte exact des qualités par lesquelles une chose ou une personne diffère d’une autre.
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 discerner
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- discernant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- discerné participle past
- discerne first-person indicative present
- discernes indicative present second-person
- discernons first-person indicative plural
- discernez indicative plural present
- discernent indicative plural present
- discernais first-person imperfect indicative
- discernait imperfect indicative singular
- discernions first-person imperfect indicative
- discerniez imperfect indicative plural
- discernaient imperfect indicative plural
- discernai first-person historic indicative
- discernas historic indicative past
- discerna historic indicative past
- discernâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce discerner?
- /di.sɛʁ.ne/
- \di.sɛʁ.ne\
- [di.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 discerner
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is discerner in French?
discerner appears 1.5 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).