pétrifier
French, verb/pe.tʁi.fje/
pétrifier is spelled P-É-T-R-I-F-I-E-R (9 letters) and appears about once in every 17 million words in written French, the 133,661st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Pétrifier is a French verb meaning “to petrify (to turn to stone)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Convertir en matière pierreuse”.
What does pétrifier mean in English?
verb
- 1
to petrify (to turn to stone)
- 2
to petrify, to paralyze (to freeze with fear)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Convertir en matière pierreuse. 2. Frapper de stupeur, rendre immobile.
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 pétrifier
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- pétrifiant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- pétrifié participle past
- pétrifie first-person indicative present
- pétrifies indicative present second-person
- pétrifions first-person indicative plural
- pétrifiez indicative plural present
- pétrifient indicative plural present
- pétrifiais first-person imperfect indicative
- pétrifiait imperfect indicative singular
- pétrifiions first-person imperfect indicative
- pétrifiiez imperfect indicative plural
- pétrifiaient imperfect indicative plural
- pétrifiai first-person historic indicative
- pétrifias historic indicative past
- pétrifia historic indicative past
- pétrifiâmes first-person historic indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce pétrifier?
- /pe.tʁi.fje/
- \pe.tʁi.fje\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to pétrifier
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is pétrifier in French?
pétrifier appears about once in every 17 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).