habituier

Habituier is a French verb meaning to accustom or habituate someone or something to a condition, situation, or routine. It is used transitively with an explicit object, as in habituer quelqu’un à quelque chose, or in reflexive form s’habituer à quelque chose to become accustomed oneself. The sense covers gradual familiarization, training, or adaptation to new environments, tasks, or stimuli.

Etymology and related forms: Habituier derives from the root habit-, connected to habitus, and ultimately from Latin habituare, meaning to form a habit or to use regularly. It is related to the English cognate habituate and to the noun habituation, which denotes the process of becoming accustomed.

Usage and register: In contemporary French, habituer is the more common verb for “to accustom.” Habituier exists as a variant, typically found in older or more formal or technical texts. It may appear in contexts emphasizing the act of fostering familiarity over time, or in literary usage. The two verbs can often be used interchangeably when the nuance is “to cause someone to become accustomed,” with habituer favored in everyday speech.

Psychology and cross-linguistic note: The English term habituation describes the decline of a response to a repeated stimulus, a concept that parallels the broader French notion of s’habituer or habituer. Different subjects and objects determine which verb form is appropriate in a given sentence.

Examples: On habitue les nouveaux employés à la procédure de sécurité. Le patient a été habitué à la douleur contrôlée par une thérapie progressive. Le texte évoque comment l’organisme peut être habituier à des stimuli répétés.