découverts

Découverts is the masculine plural form of the past participle of the verb découvrir, and as an adjective it means “that have been discovered” or “revealed.” It is used to describe nouns in the masculine plural, often in scientific, archaeological, or historical contexts. For example, des objets découverts during excavations or des phénomènes découverts by researchers. The form agrees with the noun it modifies, so feminine plural would be découvertes, while feminine singular uses the related noun découverte.

As a participle in compound tenses, découverts appears with the auxiliary être or avoir, depending on construction, and agrees in gender and number with the subject when used in the passive voice or as a descriptive attribute. In everyday writing, it competes with the noun découverte (the act or process of discovering) and its plural découvertes.

Etymology: the verb découvrir is built from the prefix dé- (dis-) plus couvrir, meaning to uncover or reveal. The modern form reflects the sense of removing a cover to gain knowledge or visibility. The past participle is découvé in older variants, with the standard modern spelling being découverts (masculine plural) or its feminine counterparts découverts/découvertes depending on agreement.

Découverts thus operates primarily as a descriptive form, signaling that something has been found, revealed, or learned about, and is common in formal writing about discoveries, findings, or revealed facts.