ternir
French, verb/tɛʁ.niʁ/
ternir is spelled T-E-R-N-I-R (6 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written French, the 36,297th most frequent French word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ternir is a French verb meaning “to tarnish (metal), fade (material)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Rendre terne, ôter ou diminuer l’éclat de quelque chose”.
What does ternir mean in English?
verb
- 1
to tarnish (metal), fade (material)
- 2
to tarnish (reputation etc.)
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Rendre terne, ôter ou diminuer l’éclat de quelque chose. 2. Dégrader l’image publique, la considération, le crédit, de quelqu’un.
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 ternir
- avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
- ternissant gerund participle present
- ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
- terni participle past
- ternis first-person indicative present
- ternit indicative present singular
- ternissons first-person indicative plural
- ternissez indicative plural present
- ternissent indicative plural present
- ternissais first-person imperfect indicative
- ternissait imperfect indicative singular
- ternissions first-person imperfect indicative
- ternissiez imperfect indicative plural
- ternissaient imperfect indicative plural
- ternîmes first-person historic indicative
- ternîtes historic indicative past
- ternirent historic indicative past
- ternirai first-person future indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce ternir?
- /tɛʁ.niʁ/
- \tɛʁ.niʁ\
Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to ternir
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is ternir in French?
ternir appears about once in every 1 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).