blesser

English

Etymology

From bless +‎ -er.

Noun

blesser (plural blessers)

1. One who blesses; one who bestows or invokes a blessing.
2. (slang, South Africa) A rich man who offers support (typically financial and material) to a younger female companion in exchange for sex, friendship, etc.
   • 2018, Claudia Mitchell, Relebohile Moletsane, Disrupting Shameful Legacies, page 94:

     Other participants suggested that girls with blessers were forward or naughty girls, thus exonerating the actual blessers from blame and responsibility.

Anagrams

• Bessler, Belsers, rebless, Beslers

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French blesser, from Old French blecier (“to injure, hurt”), from Frankish *blaitijan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɛ.se/ ~ /ble.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

blesser

1. to wound, to injure

   Il a été blessé par un coup de poignard au niveau des muscles abdominaux.

   He suffered a stab wound in the region of the abdominal muscles.

2. (figuratively) to hurt one's feelings, to offend
3. (reflexive) to injure oneself

   Je me suis blessé le pied droit.

   I've hurt my right foot.

Conjugation

Conjugation of blesser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	blesser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	blessant /blɛ.sɑ̃/ or /ble.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		blessé /blɛ.se/ or /ble.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	blesse /blɛs/	blesses /blɛs/	blesse /blɛs/	blessons /blɛ.sɔ̃/ or /ble.sɔ̃/	blessez /blɛ.se/ or /ble.se/	blessent /blɛs/
	imperfect	blessais /blɛ.sɛ/ or /ble.sɛ/	blessais /blɛ.sɛ/ or /ble.sɛ/	blessait /blɛ.sɛ/ or /ble.sɛ/	blessions /blɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /ble.sjɔ̃/	blessiez /blɛ.sje/ or /ble.sje/	blessaient /blɛ.sɛ/ or /ble.sɛ/
	past historic2	blessai /blɛ.se/ or /ble.se/	blessas /blɛ.sa/ or /ble.sa/	blessa /blɛ.sa/ or /ble.sa/	blessâmes /blɛ.sam/ or /ble.sam/	blessâtes /blɛ.sat/ or /ble.sat/	blessèrent /blɛ.sɛʁ/ or /ble.sɛʁ/
	future	blesserai /blɛ.sʁe/ or /ble.sʁe/	blesseras /blɛ.sʁa/ or /ble.sʁa/	blessera /blɛ.sʁa/ or /ble.sʁa/	blesserons /blɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /ble.sʁɔ̃/	blesserez /blɛ.sʁe/ or /ble.sʁe/	blesseront /blɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /ble.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	blesserais /blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /ble.sʁɛ/	blesserais /blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /ble.sʁɛ/	blesserait /blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /ble.sʁɛ/	blesserions /blɛ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /ble.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	blesseriez /blɛ.sə.ʁje/ or /ble.sə.ʁje/	blesseraient /blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /ble.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	blesse /blɛs/	blesses /blɛs/	blesse /blɛs/	blessions /blɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /ble.sjɔ̃/	blessiez /blɛ.sje/ or /ble.sje/	blessent /blɛs/
	imperfect2	blessasse /blɛ.sas/ or /ble.sas/	blessasses /blɛ.sas/ or /ble.sas/	blessât /blɛ.sa/ or /ble.sa/	blessassions /blɛ.sa.sjɔ̃/ or /ble.sa.sjɔ̃/	blessassiez /blɛ.sa.sje/ or /ble.sa.sje/	blessassent /blɛ.sas/ or /ble.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	blesse /blɛs/	—	blessons /blɛ.sɔ̃/ or /ble.sɔ̃/	blessez /blɛ.se/ or /ble.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of se blesser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	se blesser
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	se blessant /sə blɛ.sɑ̃/ or /sə ble.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		blessé /blɛ.se/ or /ble.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	me blesse /mə blɛs/	te blesses /tə blɛs/	se blesse /sə blɛs/	nous blessons /nu blɛ.sɔ̃/ or /nu ble.sɔ̃/	vous blessez /vu blɛ.se/ or /vu ble.se/	se blessent /sə blɛs/
	imperfect	me blessais /mə blɛ.sɛ/ or /mə ble.sɛ/	te blessais /tə blɛ.sɛ/ or /tə ble.sɛ/	se blessait /sə blɛ.sɛ/ or /sə ble.sɛ/	nous blessions /nu blɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /nu ble.sjɔ̃/	vous blessiez /vu blɛ.sje/ or /vu ble.sje/	se blessaient /sə blɛ.sɛ/ or /sə ble.sɛ/
	past historic2	me blessai /mə blɛ.se/ or /mə ble.se/	te blessas /tə blɛ.sa/ or /tə ble.sa/	se blessa /sə blɛ.sa/ or /sə ble.sa/	nous blessâmes /nu blɛ.sam/ or /nu ble.sam/	vous blessâtes /vu blɛ.sat/ or /vu ble.sat/	se blessèrent /sə blɛ.sɛʁ/ or /sə ble.sɛʁ/
	future	me blesserai /mə blɛ.sʁe/ or /mə ble.sʁe/	te blesseras /tə blɛ.sʁa/ or /tə ble.sʁa/	se blessera /sə blɛ.sʁa/ or /sə ble.sʁa/	nous blesserons /nu blɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /nu ble.sʁɔ̃/	vous blesserez /vu blɛ.sʁe/ or /vu ble.sʁe/	se blesseront /sə blɛ.sʁɔ̃/ or /sə ble.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	me blesserais /mə blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /mə ble.sʁɛ/	te blesserais /tə blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /tə ble.sʁɛ/	se blesserait /sə blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /sə ble.sʁɛ/	nous blesserions /nu blɛ.sə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /nu ble.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous blesseriez /vu blɛ.sə.ʁje/ or /vu ble.sə.ʁje/	se blesseraient /sə blɛ.sʁɛ/ or /sə ble.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	me blesse /mə blɛs/	te blesses /tə blɛs/	se blesse /sə blɛs/	nous blessions /nu blɛ.sjɔ̃/ or /nu ble.sjɔ̃/	vous blessiez /vu blɛ.sje/ or /vu ble.sje/	se blessent /sə blɛs/
	imperfect2	me blessasse /mə blɛ.sas/ or /mə ble.sas/	te blessasses /tə blɛ.sas/ or /tə ble.sas/	se blessât /sə blɛ.sa/ or /sə ble.sa/	nous blessassions /nu blɛ.sa.sjɔ̃/ or /nu ble.sa.sjɔ̃/	vous blessassiez /vu blɛ.sa.sje/ or /vu ble.sa.sje/	se blessassent /sə blɛ.sas/ or /sə ble.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	blesse-toi /blɛs.twa/	—	blessons-nous /blɛ.sɔ̃.nu/ or /ble.sɔ̃.nu/	blessez-vous /blɛ.se.vu/ or /ble.se.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Synonyms

• offenser

Derived terms

• c’est là que le bât blesse

Related terms

• blessant
• blessé
• blessure

Further reading

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

Middle French

Etymology

Old French blecier, see above.

Verb

blesser

1. to hurt; to injure

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of blesser

infinitive	simple	blesser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	blessant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		blessé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	blesse	blesses	blesse	blessons	blessez	blessent
	imperfect	blessois, blessoys	blessois, blessoys	blessoit, blessoyt	blessions, blessyons	blessiez, blessyez	blessoient, blessoyent
	past historic	blessa	blessas	blessa	blessasmes	blessastes	blesserent
	future	blesserai, blesseray	blesseras	blessera	blesserons	blesserez	blesseront
	conditional	blesserois, blesseroys	blesserois, blesseroys	blesseroit, blesseroyt	blesserions, blesseryons	blesseriez, blesseryez	blesseroient, blesseroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	blesse	blesses	blesse	blessons	blessez	blessent
	imperfect	blessasse	blessasses	blessast	blessassions	blessassiez	blessassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	blesse	—	blessons	blessez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).