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fermer

French, verb/fɛʁ.me/

fermer is a French verb meaning “to shut” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Clore ce qui était ouvert, par une porte, un couvercle, une trappe, etc”.

What does fermer mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to shut

  2. 2

    to close

  3. 3

    to close

  4. 4

    to do up (of clothing)

  5. 5

    to switch off, to turn off (of a device or an appliance)

  6. 6

    to shut down, to discontinue, to axe (of a service)

  7. 7

    to bind off (of stitches in knitting)

  8. 8

    to harden (of someone's face)

Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How French dictionaries define it

verb: 1. Clore ce qui était ouvert, par une porte, un couvercle, une trappe, etc. 2. Clore un édifice, un établissement, un lieu de réunion, etc., en vue d'interrompre ce qui s'y faisait, momentanément ou définitivement. 3. Interdire ; mettre en interdiction. 4. Cesser un commerce, une occupation.

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 fermer

  • avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
  • fermant gerund participle present
  • ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
  • fermé participle past
  • ferme first-person indicative present
  • fermes indicative present second-person
  • fermons first-person indicative plural
  • fermez indicative plural present
  • ferment indicative plural present
  • fermais first-person imperfect indicative
  • fermait imperfect indicative singular
  • fermions first-person imperfect indicative
  • fermiez imperfect indicative plural
  • fermaient imperfect indicative plural
  • fermai first-person historic indicative
  • fermas historic indicative past
  • ferma historic indicative past
  • fermâmes first-person historic indicative

Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How do you pronounce fermer?

  • /fɛʁ.me/
  • \fɛʁ.me\
  • [fɛʁ.me]

Sources: English Wiktionary, French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to fermer

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is fermer in French?

fermer appears 34 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).