paître

Senses

1. 1.

   to graze

   for animals to feed on grass or vegetation in a field

2. 2.

   to pasture

   to allow animals to feed in a pasture

Examples

• "Les vaches paissent dans le pré."

  The cows are grazing in the meadow.

• "Le berger laisse paître ses moutons tous les jours."

  The shepherd lets his sheep graze every day.

• "Les chevaux paissent tranquillement au bord de la rivière."

  The horses graze peacefully by the riverbank.

Usage

Paître is a literary or rural verb; the conjugation is defective in modern French (present tense lacks first and second person singular forms: je pais, tu pais are avoided). Commonly used in the third person singular and plural. Often appears in the infinitive or participle forms.