lécher

From Frankish *likkōn, from Proto-Germanic *likkōną, whence Old English liccian (Modern English lick). Compare also Italian leccare, from the same Germanic source. A less likely etymology derives both the French and Italian from a Vulgar Latin root *ligicare, from lingo, lingere.

• IPA^(key): /le.ʃe/

• audio

  (file)

lécher

1. to lick
2. (figurative, informal) to polish, to refine (one's work)

This verb is conjugated like céder. It is a regular -er verb, except that its last stem vowel alternates between /e/ (written 'é') and /ɛ/ (written 'è'), with the latter being used before mute 'e'. One special case is the future stem, used in the future and the conditional. Before 1990, the future stem of such verbs was written lécher-, reflecting the historic pronunciation /e/. In 1990, the French Academy recommended that it be written lècher-, reflecting the now common pronunciation /ɛ/, thereby making this distinction consistent throughout the conjugation (and also matching in this regard the conjugations of verbs like lever and jeter). Both spellings are in use today, and both are therefore given here.

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