Skip to content

moisir

to go mouldy, to moulder

verb mwah-ZEER Rare

Origin: Latin mucere 'to be mouldy'

Also means

to stagnate

Usage Note

Moisir describes food or organic matter developing mould (le pain moisit), but also colloquially means to stagnate or waste away — moisir en prison ('to rot in prison'). The related noun moisissure means mould or mildew, and moisi (the past participle used as an adjective) means mouldy: ça sent le moisi ('it smells mouldy').

Examples

"Le pain a moisi en deux jours."

Natural Translation

The bread went mouldy in two days.

Free starter pack

Building your French vocabulary?

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

Explore French by topic