fondre

Fondre is a French verb meaning to change from a solid to a liquid as a result of heat, most often described as melting. It can also mean to fuse or merge materials, to dissolve substances with heat, or, in a figurative sense, to vanish or soften emotions. In everyday use, fondre covers both physical melting and metaphorical uses such as melting ice, chocolate, or metal, and it appears in idioms like fondre sur quelqu’un (to swarm or pounce on someone) or fondre en larmes (to break into tears).

In physical context, fondre describes the transition of solids like ice, chocolate, or metal when heated above their melting points. For example, on a stove one can faire fondre du beurre or du chocolat. In metallurgy, the term is used for melting metals to cast or alloy them. Figuratively, it can express a loss of resistance or a sudden emotional change, as in fondre en larmes or fondre d’enthousiasme.

Conjugation and grammar: fondre is irregular in the present tense, with the stem changing: je fonds, tu fonds, il fond; nous fondons, vous fondez, ils fondent. The past participle is fondu, used with auxiliary avoir in compound tenses (par exemple, Le métal a fondu). Other tenses follow standard patterns in most forms, including imperfect fonds, future fondrai, and conditional fondrais.

Etymology and related terms: fondre comes from Old French fondre, itself from Latin fundere “to pour” or “to melt,” reflecting the transition from liquid to solid states and back. Related words include fondant (a substance that melts smoothly), fondue (a dish or method of dipping melted items), and fondation (original sense of foundation related to melting down to the base).

See also: fondue, fondant, melting, metallurgy.