passer

See also: Passer and pâsser

English

Etymology

From pass +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑːsə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæsəɹ/
• Rhymes: -æsə(ɹ)

Noun

passer (plural passers)

1. One who succeeds in passing a test, etc.
   • 2008, David L. Streiner, Geoffrey R. Norman, Health Measurement Scales:

     The distributions of scores on the exam for passers and failers are plotted […]

2. One who passes something along; a distributor.

   a passer of counterfeit banknotes

3. (sports) Someone who passes, someone who makes a pass.
   • 1991, Rex Mossop, The Moose That Roared, Sydney: Ironbark Press, page 157:

     A superb passer of the ball, we expected him to wipe the floor with the opposition.

   1. (American football) A football player who makes a forward pass, who may be (but not limited to) the quarterback.
4. (chess, informal) A passed pawn.
5. (archaic) One who passes; a passer-by.
   • 1878, Henry James, The Europeans:

     There was a promise of it in the gorgeous purity of the western sky; there was an intimation in the mild, unimpertinent gaze of the passers of a certain natural facility in things.

   • 1904, National Magazine, volume 20, page 147:

     Passers stopped and began to stare. A policeman was approaching up the street. Dave dodged back into the cab and banged the door.

6. (sociology) One who is able to "pass", or be accepted as a member of a race, sex or other group to which society would not otherwise regard them as belonging.
   • 2003, Brooke Kroeger, Passing: When People Can't Be Who They Are:

     Explores the history, literature, and sociology of passing, and provides case studies of six individuals who are "passers," including a black man who passed as a white Jew and a lesbian naval officer who passed as straight.

   • 2014, Risa Bear, Homecomings, page 69:

     Passers and would-be passers make every effort to be convincing in their chosen gender role […]

Translations

sports

• Finnish: syöttäjä (fi), passari (fi)
• German: Passer (de) m Passgeber (de) m

See also

• buck-passer
• flat passer
• gas passer
• laissez-passer
• passer-by
• passer-through

 

Anagrams

• parses, sarpes, repass, Speras, spaers, Aspers, Serpas, spaser, Spares, prases, Spears, aspers, Arpses, Presas, presas, spears, sparse, spares

Danish

Etymology 1

From German Passer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pasər/, [ˈpʰasɐ]

Noun

passer c (singular definite passeren, plural indefinite passere)

1. compass, pair of compasses (tool for drawing circles and arcs)

Inflection

Declension of passer

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	passer	passeren	passere	passerne
genitive	passers	passerens	passeres	passernes

See also

• passer on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

Etymology 2

See passere (“to pass”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paseːr/, [pʰaˈseɐ̯ˀ]

Verb

passer or passér

1. imperative of passere

Dutch

Etymology

From passen (“to measure a size”) +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑsər

Noun

passer m (plural passers, diminutive passertje n)

1. compass (device used with a pencil to draw an arc or circle on paper)

Descendants

• Negerhollands: passer
• → Papiamentu: paser
• → Saramaccan: pása

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French passer, from Old French passer, from Vulgar Latin *passāre, derived from Latin passus (“step”, noun).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pa.se/ ~ /pɑ.se/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

passer

1. to go past
2. to cross (a border)
3. (law) to pass

   passer une loi ― to pass a law

4. to spend (time)

   J’ai passé les vacances en Espagne. ― I spent the holidays in Spain.

   J’ai passé une splendide soirée chez toi. ― I had a great evening at your place.

5. to publish (a newspaper)
6. (transitive) to take, to sit (an exam or test)

   J’ai réussi l’examen que j’avais passé en avril. ― I passed the exam that I took in April.

7. (intransitive) to pass (an exam or test)

   Il est passé à l’examen. ― He passed the exam.

8. (dated) (transitive) to pass (an exam or test)

   Il a passé l’examen. ― He passed the exam.

9. (public transportation) to run

   Le train passe toutes les vingt minutes. ― The train runs every 20 minutes.

10. to exceed (a limit)
11. to percolate
12. to hand down, to pass on
13. to be allowed
14. (intransitive) to pass, to go (between two entities)
    • 1908, Gaston Leroux, chapter 1, in Le Mystère de la chambre jaune [The Mystery of the Yellow Room]‎^[1], published 2009:

      L’assassin n’avait donc pas passé par là et ne pouvait se sauver par là […]

      The murderer, therefore, could not have entered that way and could not possibly escape that way.

15. (transitive) to show (a movie)
16. to go up (a grade)
17. to shift (change gear)
    1. to go down
    2. to go up
18. to stop by, to pop in

    Il est passé nous voir. ― He stopped by to see us.

    Je vais y passer demain pour mes affaires.

    I'm going to stop by there tomorrow for my things.

19. to pass away, to die
20. (music) to spin (e.g. a disk)
21. (television) to show (be on television)
22. (sports) to pass (kick, throw, hit etc. the ball to another player)
23. (athletics) to pass (the relay baton)
24. to pass on (infect someone else with a disease)
25. (transitive) to put, to place, to slip (move a part of one's body somewhere else)
    • 1908, Gaston Leroux, Le Mystère de la chambre jaune, 2009 ed., Wikisource, chap. 1; translated 1908 by anonymous, Margaret Jull Costa (ed.), as The Mystery of the Yellow Room, 2003 ed., Dedalus, →ISBN:

      [...] et, par-dessus les volets, les barreaux intacts, des barreaux à travers lesquels vous n’auriez pas passé le bras…

      [...] and, as well as those shutters, there were iron bars so close together that you could not even have got your arm through them.

26. to wipe, rub

    Elle passe de la crème sur son ventre.

    She's rubbing cream on her belly.

27. to skip a go
28. to put (make something undergo something)
29. (card games) to pass (not play upon one's turn)
30. (reflexive) to take place, to happen, to come to pass

    Qu’est-ce qui s’est passé ici ? ― What happened here?

31. (reflexive, for time) to go by
32. (reflexive) to do without [with de ‘something’]

    Je ne peux pas me passer de café le matin.

    I can't do without a cup of coffee in the morning.

33. to don

    Il passa son pantalon. ― He put on his pants.

34. (intransitive) to be thought to be, to be said to be, to be taken for [with pour ‘someone/something’]

    faire passer quelqu’un pour quelque chose ― to make someone out to be something

    se faire passer pour ― to pass oneself off as, to pose as, to impersonate

Usage notes

• This verb uses the auxiliary verb avoir when used transitively (or with a transitive sense, even when the complement is omitted); otherwise (when it is intransitive), it uses être.

Conjugation

Conjugation of passer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	passer
	compound	avoir or être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	passant /pa.sɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		passé /pa.se/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	passe /pas/	passes /pas/	passe /pas/	passons /pa.sɔ̃/	passez /pa.se/	passent /pas/
	imperfect	passais /pa.sɛ/	passais /pa.sɛ/	passait /pa.sɛ/	passions /pa.sjɔ̃/	passiez /pa.sje/	passaient /pa.sɛ/
	past historic2	passai /pa.se/	passas /pa.sa/	passa /pa.sa/	passâmes /pa.sam/	passâtes /pa.sat/	passèrent /pa.sɛʁ/
	future	passerai /pa.sʁe/	passeras /pa.sʁa/	passera /pa.sʁa/	passerons /pa.sʁɔ̃/	passerez /pa.sʁe/	passeront /pa.sʁɔ̃/
	conditional	passerais /pa.sʁɛ/	passerais /pa.sʁɛ/	passerait /pa.sʁɛ/	passerions /pa.sə.ʁjɔ̃/	passeriez /pa.sə.ʁje/	passeraient /pa.sʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir or être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir or être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir or être + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir or être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir or être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	passe /pas/	passes /pas/	passe /pas/	passions /pa.sjɔ̃/	passiez /pa.sje/	passent /pas/
	imperfect2	passasse /pa.sas/	passasses /pa.sas/	passât /pa.sa/	passassions /pa.sa.sjɔ̃/	passassiez /pa.sa.sje/	passassent /pa.sas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir or être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir or être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	passe /pas/	—	passons /pa.sɔ̃/	passez /pa.se/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir or être + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir or être + past participle	simple imperative of avoir or 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

• (reflexive, to happen): se produire, arriver

Derived terms

• ça passe ou ça casse
• dépasser
• en passant
• et j’en passe
• il faut que jeunesse se passe
• j’en passe et des meilleures
• j’en passe et des meilleurs
• les chiens aboient, la caravane passe
• passage
• passation
• passe encore
• passement
• passer à autre chose
• passer à la casserole
• passer à la moulinette
• passer à la trappe
• passer à la vitesse supérieure
• passer à l’acte
• passer à tabac
• passer à travers les mailles du filet
• passer au crible
• passer au fil de l’épée
• passer au peigne fin
• passer aux aveux
• passer aux choses sérieuses
• passer commande
• passer comme une lettre à la poste
• passer crème
• passer de la pommade
• passer de vie à trépas
• passer du coq à l’âne
• passer en force
• passer en revue
• passer entre les mailles du filet
• passer fleur
• passer inaperçu
• passer la main
• passer la parole
• passer la rampe
• passer le flambeau
• passer le mot
• passer le poteau
• passer le relais
• passer le Rubicon
• passer le temps
• passer les bornes
• passer l’arme à gauche
• passer l’aspirateur
• passer l’éponge
• passer l’hiver
• passer maître
• passer outre
• passer par la tête
• passer par les armes
• passer par les mains
• passer pour
• passer ses nerfs
• passer son chemin
• passer son tour
• passer sous la table
• passer sous le bureau
• passer sous le nez
• passer sous les fourches caudines
• passer sous silence
• passer sur le billard
• passer un savon
• passez-moi l’expression
• repasser
• se passer de
• tour de passe-passe
• un ange passe
• y passer

 

Descendants

• → Alemannic German: passiere
• → German: passieren
• Romanian: → pasa, → trece (semantic loan)

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• pressa

Ladin

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *passāre, derived from Latin passus (“step”, noun).

Verb

passer

1. to proceed

Conjugation

• Ladin conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of passer (first conjugation)

infinitive	passer, passé
auxiliary verb		avei	gerund		passan
past participle		passé
person	singular			plural
	first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative	ie	tu	el / ela	nos	vos	ei / eles
present	passe, passeie	passes, passeies	passa, passeia, passea	passon	passeis	passa, passeia
imperfect	passove	passoves	passova	passovan	passovais	passova
future	passaré	passaras	passarà	passaron	passareis	passarà
subjunctive	che ie	che tu	che el / ela	che nos	che vos	che ei / eles
present	passe, passeie	passes, passeies	passe, passeie	passon	passeis	passe
imperfect	passasse	passasses	passassa	passassan	passassais	passassa
imperative	–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
	—	passa, passeia	—	passon	passede	—

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *passros with a declension change from second to third, from Proto-Indo-European *p(e)t-tro-s (“who flies, bird”), from *peth₂- (“to fly”). Related to penna.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpas.ser/, [ˈpäs̠ːɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpas.ser/, [ˈpäsːer]

Noun

passer m (genitive passeris); third declension

1. sparrow
   • c. 84 BCE – 54 BCE, Catullus, Carmina 3.3–4:

     Passer mortuus est meae puellae.
     Passer, deliciae meae puellae […]

     My girl's sparrow is dead.
     The sparrow, my girl's pet […]

2. turbot
   • 43 BCE – c. 17 CE, Ovid, Halieutica 118–126:

     At contrā herbōsā piscēs luxantur harēnā
     ut scarus, ēpastās sōlus quī rūminat ēscās,
     fēcundumque genus mēnae lamyrusque smarisque
     atque immunda chromis, meritō vīlissima salpa
     atque avium phȳcis nīdōs imitāta sub undīs
     et squāmās tenuī suffūsus sanguine mullus,
     fulgentēs soleae candōre et concolor illīs
     passer et Hadriacō mīrandus lītore rhombus,
     tum leporēs lātī, tum mollēs tergore rānae […]

     On the other hand, fish that revel in the grassy sand
     such as the scar, the only one that chews over eaten up food,
     the prolific kind of the maena, lamyrus and smaris
     and the unclean chronic, the deservedly worthless salpa
     and the phycis that imitates the nests of birds under the waves
     and the mullet whose scales are suffused with tenous blood,
     and the sole flashing with whiteness and the turbot
     of the same colour, and the amazing flatfish on the Adriatic Shore,
     then the broad sea-hares, then the soft-bodied sea-frog […]

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	passer	passerēs
Genitive	passeris	passerum
Dative	passerī	passeribus
Accusative	passerem	passerēs
Ablative	passere	passeribus
Vocative	passer	passerēs

Related terms

• passercula, passerculus
• passerīnus

Descendants

• Catalan: passerell, pàssera
• Corsican: passula
• Dalmatian: paserain
• Esperanto: pasero
• Franco-Provençal: pâsserâ
• French: passereau
• Friulian: passare, passarat
• Ido: pasero
• Interlingua: passere
• Istro-Romanian: pǫsăre
• Italian: passero, passera
• Occitan: passerat
• Romanian: pasăre
• Romansch: pasler
• Vulgar Latin:
  • *passarum (see there for further descendants)

References

• “passer”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “passer”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• passer in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 449

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French passer.

Verb

passer

1. to pass; to go by
   • 15th century, Rustichello da Pisa (original author), Mazarine Master (scribe), The Travels of Marco Polo, page 3, line 2:

     Cy aprés parle comment les deux freres passerent le desert

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

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

Conjugation of passer

infinitive	simple	passer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	passant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		passé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	passe	passes	passe	passons	passez	passent
	imperfect	passois, passoys	passois, passoys	passoit, passoyt	passions, passyons	passiez, passyez	passoient, passoyent
	past historic	passa	passas	passa	passasmes	passastes	passerent
	future	passerai, passeray	passeras	passera	passerons	passerez	passeront
	conditional	passerois, passeroys	passerois, passeroys	passeroit, passeroyt	passerions, passeryons	passeriez, passeryez	passeroient, passeroyent
(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	passe	passes	passe	passons	passez	passent
	imperfect	passasse	passasses	passast	passassions	passassiez	passassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	passe	—	passons	passez	—
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).

Descendants

• French: passer
  • → Alemannic German: passiere
  • → German: passieren
  • Romanian: → pasa, → trece (semantic loan)

References

• passer on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

passer

1. imperative of passere
2. present of passe

Old French

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *passāre, derived from Latin passus (“step”, noun).

Verb

passer

1. to pass; to pass by

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ss, *-sss, *-sst are modified to s, s, st. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

    Conjugation of passer (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)

		simple			compound
infinitive		passer			avoir passé
gerund		en passant			gerund of avoir + past participle
present participle		passant
past participle		passé
person		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		jo	tu	il	nos	vos	il
simple tenses	present	pas	passes	passe	passons	passez	passent
	imperfect	passoie, passeie, passoe, passeve	passoies, passeies, passoes, passeves	passoit, passeit, passot, passeve	passiiens, passiens	passiiez, passiez	passoient, passeient, passoent, passevent
	preterite	passai	passas	passa	passames	passastes	passerent
	future	passerai	passeras	passera	passerons	passeroiz, passereiz, passerez	passeront
	conditional	passeroie, passereie	passeroies, passereies	passeroit, passereit	passeriiens, passeriens	passeriiez, passeriez	passeroient, passereient
compound tenses	present perfect	present tense of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect tense of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	preterite tense of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future tense of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional tense of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que jo	que tu	qu’il	que nos	que vos	qu’il
simple tenses	present	pas	pas	past	passons	passez	passent
	imperfect	passasse	passasses	passast	passissons, passissiens	passissoiz, passissez, passissiez	passassent
compound tenses	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nos	vos	–
		—	passe	—	passons	passez	—

Descendants

• Middle French: passer
  • French: passer
    • → Alemannic German: passiere
    • → German: passieren
    • Romanian: → pasa, → trece (semantic loan)
• Norman: pâsser, pâssaïr
• → Middle Dutch: passen
  • Dutch: passen
• → Middle English: passen, pasen, pacen
  • English: pass, pace
  • Scots: pass
  • Yola: paaced (preterite)
• → Middle High German: passen
  • German: passen

Further reading

• “pass”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.