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parer

French, verb/pa.ʁe/

parer is a French verb meaning “to adorn; to bedeck” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Préparer, apprêter certaines choses de manière à leur donner meilleure apparence, à les rendre plus belles…”.

What does parer mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to adorn; to bedeck

    Paré de fleurs.

  2. 2

    to fend off

  3. 3

    to parry

  4. 4

    to get dressed up (in one's finest clothes)

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

How French dictionaries define it

verb: 1. Préparer, apprêter certaines choses de manière à leur donner meilleure apparence, à les rendre plus belles, plus commodes, plus propres au service. 2. Préparer une manœuvre. 3. Préparer un aliment, le peler, en ôter les parties non comestibles. 4. Orner ; embellir.

verb: 1. Retenir (un cheval). 2. Prendre appui, en parlant d’un cheval au galop.

verb: 1. Éviter un coup en l’arrêtant avec une arme. 2. Défendre, protéger quelqu’un. 3. Éviter. 4. Parer à : Se protéger de, faire face à. Remédier ; obvier.

verb: 1. Enlever la croûte de son fromage.

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 parer

  • avoir + past participle infinitive multiword-construction
  • parant gerund participle present
  • ayant + past participle gerund multiword-construction participle
  • paré participle past
  • pare first-person indicative present
  • pares indicative present second-person
  • parons first-person indicative plural
  • parez indicative plural present
  • parent indicative plural present
  • parais first-person imperfect indicative
  • parait imperfect indicative singular
  • parions first-person imperfect indicative
  • pariez imperfect indicative plural
  • paraient imperfect indicative plural
  • parai first-person historic indicative
  • paras historic indicative past
  • para historic indicative past
  • parâmes first-person historic indicative

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

How do you pronounce parer?

  • /pa.ʁe/
  • \pa.ʁe\
  • [pa.ʁe]

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

English words that translate to parer

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

How common is parer in French?

parer appears 2.0 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).