enterrer

Inherited from Middle French enterrer, from Old French enterrer, from Vulgar Latin *interrāre (“to put into earth”), from Latin terra. Equivalent to en- (“into”) +‎ terre (“earth”) +‎ -er (infinitive marker). Cognate with English inter.

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.tɛ.ʁe/ ~ /ɑ̃.te.ʁe/

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• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.te.re/
• Rhymes: -e
• Homophones: enterré, enterrée, enterrées, enterrés, enterrez

enterrer

1. to bury (put underground); to inter
   • 2010, Valdman, et al., Dictionary of Louisiana French as Spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian Communities, page 252:

     Là, un jour, Geneviève est morte. Et ils ont parti l’enterrer.

     Then one day, Geneviève died. And they left to bury her.

2. to ditch, to bury (a plan, a memory, a legislative proposal, etc.)
3. (by extension, figurative, familiar) to outlive, to survive (someone)
   • 2025 November 5, Projet Voltaire, “Égrotant, cacochyme, valétudinaire”, in YouTube‎^[1], retrieved 14 November 2025:

     [Voltaire] les a tous enterrés en mourant à l'âge de... 83 ans.

     [Voltaire] outlived them all by dying at the age of... 83.

4. (figurative) to hide

   enterrer son secret

   to hide one's secret

   L’avare enterre ses trésors au lieu d’en jouir.

   The miser hides his treasures instead of enjoying them.

5. (figurative, familiar) to enjoy something before it is gone

   enterrer sa vie de garçon

   to celebrate one's stag/bachelor party

   (literally, “to bury one's boy's life”)

6. (pronominal, figurative) to seclude oneself, to withdraw from the world to live in a remote location
7. (pronominal, equestrianism) (of a horse) to carry the head very low

• terre (“earth”)

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

• errèrent

From Old French enterrer, from Vulgar Latin *interrāre (“to put into earth”).

enterrer

1. to bury (in the Earth)

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

• inhumer

• French: enterrer

• enterer

From Vulgar Latin *interrāre (“to put into earth”), from Latin terra.

enterrer

1. to bury (in the Earth)

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-rr, *-rrs, *-rrt are modified to r, rs, rt. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

• Middle French: enterrer
  • French: enterrer
• Norman: entèrrer (Jersey)
• → Middle English: enteren
  • English: inter, enter (obsolete, pre-Latinised spelling)