pencher
French, verb/pɑ̃.ʃe/
pencher is spelled P-E-N-C-H-E-R (7 letters) and appears 5.6 times per million words in written French, the 10,294th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Pencher is a French verb meaning “to tilt, tip up” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Incliner ; baisser quelque chose de quelque côté ; mettre quelque chose hors d’aplomb”.
What does pencher mean in English?
verb
- 1
to tilt, tip up
- 2
to lean, list
- 3
to lean towards (an opinion, idea etc.); to be inclined (to do something)
- 4
to bend down, lean over
- 5
to look into
Je me pencherai sur le problème. I'll look into the problem.
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Incliner ; baisser quelque chose de quelque côté ; mettre quelque chose hors d’aplomb. 2. Être hors de son aplomb, hors de la ligne perpendiculaire ; n'être pas de niveau ; aller en descendant. 3. Être porté à quelque chose ; être enclin à. 4. Se diriger ; aller, en parlant de déclin, etc.
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 pencher
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- penchant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- penché participle past
- penche first-person indicative present
- penches indicative present second-person
- penchons first-person indicative plural
- penchez indicative plural present
- penchent indicative plural present
- penchais first-person imperfect indicative
- penchait imperfect indicative singular
- penchions first-person imperfect indicative
- penchiez imperfect indicative plural
- penchaient imperfect indicative plural
- penchai first-person historic indicative
- penchas historic indicative past
- pencha historic indicative past
- penchâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce pencher?
- /pɑ̃.ʃe/
- \pɑ̃.ʃe\
- [pɑ̃.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 pencher
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is pencher in French?
pencher appears 5.6 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).