pressentir
French, verb/pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ/
pressentir is spelled P-R-E-S-S-E-N-T-I-R (10 letters) and appears about once in every 6 million words in written French, the 80,051st most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Pressentir is a French verb meaning “to have a premonition” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Prévoir confusément quelque chose par un sentiment non raisonné”.
What does pressentir mean in English?
verb
- 1
to have a premonition
- 2
to foresee (mysteriously)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Prévoir confusément quelque chose par un sentiment non raisonné. 2. Entrevoir, deviner. 3. Sonder, tâcher de découvrir les dispositions, les sentiments de quelqu’un sur quelque chose. 4. Se renseigner sur les intentions de quelqu'un auquel on envisage de confier des responsabilités.
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 pressentir
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- pressentant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- pressenti participle past
- pressens first-person indicative present
- pressent indicative present singular
- pressentons first-person indicative plural
- pressentez indicative plural present
- pressentent indicative plural present
- pressentais first-person imperfect indicative
- pressentait imperfect indicative singular
- pressentions first-person imperfect indicative
- pressentiez imperfect indicative plural
- pressentaient imperfect indicative plural
- pressentis first-person historic indicative
- pressentit historic indicative past
- pressentîmes first-person historic indicative
- pressentîtes historic indicative past
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce pressentir?
- /pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ/
- \pʁe.sɑ̃.tiʁ\
- \pʁɛ.sɑ̃.tiʁ\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to pressentir
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is pressentir in French?
pressentir appears about once in every 6 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).