délayer

See also: delayer

French

Etymology

Perhaps from Vulgar Latin delicāre, present active infinitive of delicō, from Latin deliquāre, present active infinitive of deliquō, and influenced phonetically by the unrelated Old French delaier (cf. délai).

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Verb

délayer

  1. (transitive) to add water to
    1. to thin (paint)
    2. to water down (another liquid)
  2. to pad out (e.g. a speech)

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb as far as pronunciation is concerned, but as with other verbs in -ayer (such as payer and essayer, the <y> of its stem may optionally be written as <i> when it precedes a silent <e> (compare verbs in -eyer, which never have this spelling change, and verbs in -oyer and -uyer, which always have it; verbs in -ayer belong to both groups, according to the writer's preference).

Further reading

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