hérisser

French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *ericiare, from erīcius.

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /e.ʁi.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

hérisser

1. (of an animal) to bristle, ruffle (feathers, fur etc.)
   • 1856, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary:

     La pluie ne tombait plus; le jour commençait à venir, et, sur les branches des pommiers sans feuilles, des oiseaux se tenaient immobiles, hérissant leurs petites plumes au vent froid du matin.

     The rain was no longer falling; the day was starting to dawn, and, on the leafless branches of the apple trees, the birds were still, ruffling their small feathers in the cold morning wind.

   • Joachim du Bellay, les regrets

     Je sens venir l'hiver, de qui la froide haleine / une tremblante horreur fait hérisser ma peau.

2. to spike; to form spikes in
3. (colloquial) to get somebody's back up

Conjugation

Conjugation of hérisser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	hérisser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	hérissant /e.ʁi.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		hérissé /e.ʁi.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	hérisse /e.ʁis/	hérisses /e.ʁis/	hérisse /e.ʁis/	hérissons /e.ʁi.sɔ̃/	hérissez /e.ʁi.se/	hérissent /e.ʁis/
	imperfect	hérissais /e.ʁi.sɛ/	hérissais /e.ʁi.sɛ/	hérissait /e.ʁi.sɛ/	hérissions /e.ʁi.sjɔ̃/	hérissiez /e.ʁi.sje/	hérissaient /e.ʁi.sɛ/
	past historic2	hérissai /e.ʁi.se/	hérissas /e.ʁi.sa/	hérissa /e.ʁi.sa/	hérissâmes /e.ʁi.sam/	hérissâtes /e.ʁi.sat/	hérissèrent /e.ʁi.sɛʁ/
	future	hérisserai /e.ʁi.sʁe/	hérisseras /e.ʁi.sʁa/	hérissera /e.ʁi.sʁa/	hérisserons /e.ʁi.sʁɔ̃/	hérisserez /e.ʁi.sʁe/	hérisseront /e.ʁi.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	hérisserais /e.ʁi.sʁɛ/	hérisserais /e.ʁi.sʁɛ/	hérisserait /e.ʁi.sʁɛ/	hérisserions /e.ʁi.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	hérisseriez /e.ʁi.sə.ʁje/	hérisseraient /e.ʁi.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	hérisse /e.ʁis/	hérisses /e.ʁis/	hérisse /e.ʁis/	hérissions /e.ʁi.sjɔ̃/	hérissiez /e.ʁi.sje/	hérissent /e.ʁis/
	imperfect2	hérissasse /e.ʁi.sas/	hérissasses /e.ʁi.sas/	hérissât /e.ʁi.sa/	hérissassions /e.ʁi.sa.sjɔ̃/	hérissassiez /e.ʁi.sa.sje/	hérissassent /e.ʁi.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	hérisse /e.ʁis/	—	hérissons /e.ʁi.sɔ̃/	hérissez /e.ʁi.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).

Further reading

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