ferment
French, verb/fɛʁm/
ferment is spelled F-E-R-M-E-N-T (7 letters) and appears 5.1 times per million words in written French, the 11,014th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ferment is a French verb meaning “third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of fermer” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
What does ferment mean in English?
verb
- 1
third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of fermer
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Ensemble d’êtres microscopiques vivant et se développant aux dépens de certaines matières organiques dont ils provoquent la destruction moléculaire. 2. Enzyme. 3. Ce qui fait naître ou entretient un sentiment ou un état.
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 ferment
- ferments plural
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce ferment?
- /fɛʁm/
- \fɛʁ.mɑ̃\
- \fɛʁm\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to ferment
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is ferment in French?
ferment appears 5.1 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).