gêner
French, verb/ʒɛ.ne/
gêner is spelled G-Ê-N-E-R (5 letters) and appears 3.8 times per million words in written French, the 13,537th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gêner is a French verb meaning “to hinder, hamper, bother” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Incommoder quelqu’un ou quelque chose dont on empêche le libre mouvement, causer de la gêne, importuner…”.
What does gêner mean in English?
verb
- 1
to hinder, hamper, bother
- 2
to bother, annoy, irritate
- 3
to embarrass
Arrête de me regarder comme ça, ça me gêne.
- 4
to be bothered about something
Ne te gêne pas, surtout !
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Incommoder quelqu’un ou quelque chose dont on empêche le libre mouvement, causer de la gêne, importuner, déranger. 2. Incommoder quelqu’un en lui causant quelque embarras. 3. Mettre quelqu’un dans un état pénible en l’obligeant de faire ce qu’il ne veut pas, ou en l’empêchant de faire ce qu’il veut. 4. Ne pas prendre ses aises, se contraindre par discrétion ou par timidité.
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 gêner
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- gênant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- gêné participle past
- gêne first-person indicative present
- gênes indicative present second-person
- gênons first-person indicative plural
- gênez indicative plural present
- gênent indicative plural present
- gênais first-person imperfect indicative
- gênait imperfect indicative singular
- gênions first-person imperfect indicative
- gêniez imperfect indicative plural
- gênaient imperfect indicative plural
- gênai first-person historic indicative
- gênas historic indicative past
- gêna historic indicative past
- gênâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce gêner?
- /ʒɛ.ne/
- /ʒe.ne/
- \ʒe.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 gêner
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is gêner in French?
gêner appears 3.8 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).