achever

Inherited from Middle French achever, from Old French achever, from Vulgar Latin *accapāre. Compare English achieve.

• IPA^(key): /aʃ.ve/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: achevai, achevé, achevée, achevées, achevés, achevez

achever

1. (transitive) to finish, to complete
   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche‎^{fr.Wikisource}, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter II:

     Ayant donc achevé ses préparatifs, il ne voulut pas attendre davantage pour mettre à exécution son projet.

     Having thus completed his preparations, he did not want to wait any longer to put his project into execution.

2. (transitive) to finish off (someone who is already incapacitated)
   • 1920, Maurice Leblanc, chapter III, in Les Dents du tigre‎^{fr.Wikisource}:

     Avec ça qu’elle mettait des gants, elle, pour vous attaquer ! Allons, patron, achevez-la. Une pareille diablesse !

     She had her gloves on to attack you. Come on, boss, finish her off. Such a devil!

3. (reflexive, s'achever) to finish

• False friend of English achieve (more likely to be rendered atteindre (“to attain”) or réaliser (“realize”) in French).

This verb is conjugated like parler, except the -e- /ə/ of the second-to-last syllable becomes -è- /ɛ/ when the next vowel is a silent or schwa -e-, as in the third-person singular present indicative il achève and the third-person singular future indicative il achèvera.

• achevé
• achevé d’imprimer
• achèvement
• inachevé

• chef

• “achever”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• vachère

From Old French achever, from Vulgar Latin *accapāre.

achever

1. to finish; to complete

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

• finir

• chief (“head”)

• French: achever