ralentir

From a now obsolete alentir, corresponding to a- (“toward”) + lent (“slow”) + -ir (“verbal suffix”).

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.lɑ̃.tiʁ/

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ralentir

1. (transitive, intransitive) to slow down
2. to abate
   • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Volume I, Chapter XXXIII:

     ... Lothaire commença à ralentir peu à peu, par réflexion, ses allées et venues dans la maison de son ami.

     ... Lothario started to abate little by little, by reflection, his goings and comings to the house of his friend.

This is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.

• ralentissement
• ralenti

• “ralentir” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).