empêcher
French, verb/ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃe/
empêcher is spelled E-M-P-Ê-C-H-E-R (8 letters) and appears 52 times per million words in written French, the 1,592nd most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Empêcher is a French verb meaning “to stop; to prevent; to hinder” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Entraver quelqu’un dans la réalisation de quelque chose”.
What does empêcher mean in English?
verb
- 1
to stop; to prevent; to hinder
- 2
to refrain
Je ne peux m'empêcher de l'admirer.
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Entraver quelqu’un dans la réalisation de quelque chose. 2. Rendre impossible, irréalisable ; s’opposer à ; faire obstacle. 3. Gêner ou arrêter par un obstacle. 4. Embarrasser ; empêtrer.
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 empêcher
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- empêchant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- empêché participle past
- empêche first-person indicative present
- empêches indicative present second-person
- empêchons first-person indicative plural
- empêchez indicative plural present
- empêchent indicative plural present
- empêchais first-person imperfect indicative
- empêchait imperfect indicative singular
- empêchions first-person imperfect indicative
- empêchiez imperfect indicative plural
- empêchaient imperfect indicative plural
- empêchai first-person historic indicative
- empêchas historic indicative past
- empêcha historic indicative past
- empêchâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce empêcher?
- /ɑ̃.pɛ.ʃe/
- /ɑ̃.pe.ʃe/
- \ɑ̃.pe.ʃe\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to empêcher
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is empêcher in French?
empêcher appears 52 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).