faillir

• IPA^(key): /fa.jiʁ/

Inherited from Middle French faillir, from Old French falir, from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, from Latin fallere. See also falloir.

faillir

1. to almost do something

   J’ai failli aller en Allemagne, mais j’ai annulé au dernier moment

   I almost went to Germany, but cancelled at the last minute

2. to fail

   Tu as failli à ta mission.

   You failed your mission.

This verb has two conjugations, one is older and irregular, but is in modern usage giving way to a conjugation like that of finir. It is hardly used except in the infinitive, past historic, and the composed tenses. The third-person singular present indicative faut is also found in certain set phrases.

• échouer (2) (more common than faillir)

• faille
• faillissement

• → German: fallieren
• → Swedish: fallera

From faillite.

faillir

1. to go bankrupt

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-.

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

From Old French falir, from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, from Latin fallere, present active infinitive of fallō.

faillir

1. to fail
   • c. 1369, Jean Froissart, Chroniques:

     quant les lances leur failloient, ils se prendoient aux haches

     when their lances failed them, they took up their axes

   • 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais, book II, chapter 37:

     Ou, s’il leur plait, ils se servent encore de cet empirement, et en font leurs affaires par cet autre moyen qui ne leur peut jamais faillir

     Or, if they preferred, they still made use of this deterioration, and did their affairs by this other means which could never fail them

• French: faillir
  • → German: fallieren
  • → Swedish: fallera

faillir

1. alternative infinitive of falir

This verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

• faillir