agréable French · revision 17645

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1160, Benoît de Sainte-Maure|origins=la grātus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.ɡʁe.abl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''agréable''' (plural agréables)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|agraable]] (about 1160).^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|agréer|-able]].^(Wiktionary)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The verb [[agréer]] (1138), “to find to one's liking”, is formed on [[gré]], from [[la|grātum]], the neuter of [[m|la|grātus|t=pleasing]] used as a noun.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Compare [[pro|agradaole]], [[ca|agradable]], [[es|agradable]], [[pt|agradável]] and [[it|aggradevole]].^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1160) has ''agraable'', what pleases.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 13th century ''avoir aggreable'' meant to approve or accept, a sense that survives in the dated ''avoir pour agréable'', to see fit; the 17th-century purists condemned it as a bourgeois phrase.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) Oresme (14th century) calls a person who behaves as he should ''amiable ou affable ou aggreable''.^(Littré 1873) The usual modern sense is what gives physical, intellectual or moral pleasure.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) The opposite, [[désagréable]], dates from the 13th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1138 – The verb ''agréer''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * c. 1160 – ''Agraable'' in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 13th century – ''Désagréable'', ''avoir aggreable'' “to approve”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 14th century – Oresme: of a pleasant person.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|pleasant|alt=Pleasant]], nice, [[m|en|agreeable]]: ''une musique agréable'', ''un temps agréable''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of a person, pleasant, likeable: ''des gens agréables''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # Giving pleasure to someone: ''si cela peut vous être agréable''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(dated)'' ''Avoir pour agréable'': to approve, see fit.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''L'agréable'': what is pleasant: ''joindre l'utile à l'agréable''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[agréer]]

+ * [[gré]]

+ * [[agrément]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}