dévisser

to unscrew

verb deh-vee-SEH Rare

Also means

to come loose

Usage Note

Dévisser means to unscrew a bolt, lid, or fastener. Used reflexively, se dévisser can mean to come unscrewed on its own. In climbing slang, se dévisser means to fall unexpectedly from the rock face. The antonym is visser ('to screw in/tighten').

Examples

"Il faut dévisser ce boulon pour réparer le vélo."

Natural Translation

You need to unscrew this bolt to fix the bike.

Literal Translation

It-is-necessary to-unscrew this bolt to repair the bike.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common French words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Related Words

Explore French by topic

FrenchNow

En, Au, Aux: French Prepositions for Countries

Use en for feminine countries, au for masculine, aux for plural, and à for cities. Full French preposition rule for countries, with a lookup table and traps.

June 4, 2026 5 min read

FrenchNow

Faire in French: To Make, To Do, and More

Faire in French means more than make and do: master faire vs rendre, weather and sports idioms, the causative, and the mistakes English speakers make.

June 4, 2026 6 min read

FrenchNow

French Numbers 1 to 100: Count With Confidence

French numbers 1 to 100 in one complete chart, with pronunciation, the et-un rule, hyphens, and the four-twenties system explained so you can count anywhere.

June 4, 2026 6 min read

FrenchNow

Ordering Food in French: Restaurant Phrases That Work

Order food in French with confidence: greet first, say je voudrais not je veux, ask for a carafe d'eau, answer quelle cuisson, and request the bill yourself.

June 4, 2026 6 min read