apprivoiser

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *apprīvātiāre, from Latin prīvātus (“deprived; freed, released”), perfect passive participle of prīvō (“to bereave, deprive; to free, release”).

• IPA^(key): /a.pʁi.vwa.ze/

• Audio:

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apprivoiser

1. (transitive) to tame

   Synonyms: dompter, dresser

   • 1875, “Act I”, in Ludovic Halévy, Henri Meilhac (lyrics), Georges Bizet (music), Carmen:

     L’amour est un oiseau rebelle / Que nul ne peut apprivoiser, / […]

     Love is a rebellious bird / That none can tame, / […]

   • 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince:

     Viens jouer avec moi, lui proposa le petit prince. […] Je ne puis pas jouer avec toi, dit le renard. Je ne suis pas apprivoisé.

     "Come play with me," proposed the little prince [to him]. […] "I cannot play with you," said the fox. "I am not tamed."

2. (transitive, figurative) to win over, to charm
   • 1969, “Les Champs-Élysées”, Pierre Delanoë (lyrics), Michael Wilshaw (music), performed by Joe Dassin:

     J’avais envie de dire bonjour à n’importe qui / N’importe qui et ce fut toi, je t’ai dit n’importe quoi / Il suffisait de te parler, pour t’apprivoiser

     I was in the mood to say hello to someone, just anyone / and it was you, I told you anything / It was enough to talk to you, to charm you

• apprivoisable
• apprivoiseur

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