haïr

From Middle French haïr (“to hate”), from Old French hair (“to hate”) (compare Old French enhadir (“to become filled with hate”)), from Frankish *hatjan (“to hate”), from Proto-Germanic *hatjaną (“to hunt, rush, attack”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱād- (“strong emotion”). Akin to Old High German hezzen (“to hunt, pursue”), Old English hettan (“to pursue, persecute”), Old English hete (“hate, hatred”). More at hate, heinous.

• (Europe) ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /a.iʁ/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• (Canada) ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.iʁ/, /a.jiʁ/
• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /ha.ir/, /ha.jir/, /ha.hir/
• Rhymes: -ir

haïr

1. (transitive) to hate

• In Standard French, the h of haïr is said to be aspiré (aspirate) and therefore shows that elisions of vowels and liaisons are not possible, i.e. “I hate you (sg.)” is je te hais, not je t’hais.
• In Canadian French, the past historic is used as the present tense for the first, second, and third person singular subject pronouns. Also, the "h" is not aspirated, therefore making elisions possible. For example: "I hate you" is "je t'haïs." Note that this usage is vernacular and not standard.
• In Louisiana, the "h" retains its pronunciation as the consonant /h/.

This verb is spelled as if conjugated like finir, but has a diaeresis throughout its conjugation (including where the circumflex would normally be used) except in the singular indicative present, whose forms are pronounced /ɛ/ in Standard French instead of /ai/, a pronunciation nonetheless often found in informal speech.

• dédaigner
• détester

• “haïr” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

haïr

1. (transitive) to hate

haïr

1. Alternative form of hair

• Diaereses are used by some, but not all scholars, to show that two or more vowels do not constitute a diphthong or triphthong. See Appendix:Old French spellings for more information.