fosse

See also: Fosse, fossé, fòsse, and fôsse

English

Alternative forms

• foss

Etymology

From Middle English fosse, from Old French fosse, from Latin fossa (“ditch, trench”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɒs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɑs/, /fɔs/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /fɑs/
• Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs

Noun

fosse (plural fosses)

1. A ditch or moat.
   • 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 486:

     [T]he ground was […] scattered with the masses of ruined buildings, that had formerly been part of the outward fortifications, but of which some were fallen into the fosse, and others overgrown with alder, ash, and arbeal.

2. (anatomy) Alternative form of fossa.

Derived terms

• fosse road
• fosseway

Translations

a ditch or moat

• Arabic: خَنْدَق m (ḵandaq)
• Bulgarian: окоп (bg) m (okop), ров (bg) m (rov)
• Danish: voldgrav c
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: co (ku) m

• Maori: awamate
• Ottoman Turkish: خندق (hendek)
• Persian: خندق (fa) (xandaq)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French fosse, from Old French fosse, from Latin fossa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fos/, (Belgium, southern France, Switzerland) /fɔs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: fausse, fausses, fosses

Noun

fosse f (plural fosses)

1. pit (hole in the ground)

   fosse commune ― mass grave (literally, “common pit”)

   fosse septique ― septic tank, cesspit

Derived terms

• fossette
• fossoyer

Further reading

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

Galician

Verb

fosse

1. (reintegrationist norm) first/third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of ser
2. (reintegrationist norm) first/third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of ir

Italian

Etymology 1

From earlier fusse, from Latin fuisset, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰuH- (“to become, be”).

Alternative forms

• fusse (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfos.se/
• Rhymes: -osse
• Hyphenation: fós‧se

Verb

fosse

1. third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of essere

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔs.se/
• Rhymes: -ɔsse
• Hyphenation: fòs‧se

Noun

fosse f

1. plural of fossa

Anagrams

• fesso

Ladin

Verb

fosse

1. first-person singular imperfect subjunctive of ester

Latin

Participle

fosse

1. vocative masculine singular of fossus

References

• fosse in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French fosse, from Latin fossa.

Noun

fosse f (plural fosses)

1. fosse

Derived terms

• French: fosse

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From the noun foss.

Verb

fosse (imperative foss, present tense fosser, passive fosses, simple past and past participle fossa or fosset, present participle fossende)

1. to cascade, gush, pour, rush, foam

References

• “fosse” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “fosse” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From the noun foss.

Verb

fosse (present tense fossar, past tense fossa, past participle fossa, passive infinitive fossast, present participle fossande, imperative fosse/foss)

1. to cascade, gush, pour, rush, foam

Alternative forms

• fossa

References

• “fosse” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin fossa.

Noun

fosse oblique singular, f (oblique plural fosses, nominative singular fosse, nominative plural fosses)

1. fosse
2. hole in the ground
3. a grave

Descendants

• Middle French: fosse
  • French: fosse

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (fosse, supplement)

Portuguese

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfo.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfo.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfo.se/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈfo.sɨ/

• Homophone: fouce
• Hyphenation: fos‧se

Verb

fosse

1. first/third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of ir
2. first/third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of ser

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ.si/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ.se/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ.sɨ/

• Hyphenation: fos‧se

Verb

fosse

1. inflection of fossar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative