père

See also: pere, Pere, pére, pêre, and Père

English

Alternative forms

• pere

Etymology

Borrowed from French père (“father”), from Latin pater. Doublet of ayr, faeder, father, padre, and pater.

Pronunciation

• enPR: pâr, IPA^(key): /pɛə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
• Homophones: pair, pare, pear

Noun

père (plural pères)

1. A priest of the Roman Catholic Church, especially a French one. Also used as a title preceding the name of such a priest.
2. Sr. - Used after a proper name that is common to a father and his son to indicate that the father is being referred to rather than the son (junior, fils).

Usage notes

• Current usage of differentiating fathers and sons is borrowed from French; hence this term follows the name as it does in French grammar.

See also

• fils

Anagrams

• Reep, peer

French

Etymology

From Middle French pere, from Old French pedre, pedra, pere, from Latin pater, patrem, from Proto-Italic *patēr, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛʁ/

• audio (France)

  (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /paɛ̯ʁ/

• audio (Quebec)

  (file)

• (mostly obsolete) IPA^(key): /peɾ(ə)/
• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /pæɾ/
• Rhymes: -ɛʁ
• Homophones: pères, pair, pairs, paire, paires, perd, perds

Noun

père m (plural pères)

1. father (parent)

   Coordinate term: (mother) mère

2. father (clergyman)
3. Sr. (senior) (postnomial title used to indicate a father that shares the same name as the son)

   Antonym: (Jr.) fils

Derived terms

• beau-père
• fête des Pères
• grand-père
• père de famille
• père de l'Église
• père fondateur
• père fouettard
• Père Noël
• petit père
• tel père, tel fils
• vendre père et mère

 

Descendants

• → Dutch: pere
• → English: père

Further reading

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

Norman

Etymology 1

From Old French pedre, pere, from Latin pater, from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂tḗr.

Noun

père m (plural pères)

1. (France) father

Alternative forms

• péthe (Jersey)
• pére (Guernsey)

Hypernyms

• parent

Coordinate terms

• (gender): mère

Etymology 2

From Old French peire, from Vulgar Latin *pira, from the plural of Latin pirum, reanalyzed as feminine singular.

Noun

père f (plural pères)

1. (Guernsey) pear

Alternative forms

• peire (continental Normandy)
• paithe (Jersey)