occupés

Occupés is the masculine plural form of the French adjective occupé, meaning busy or occupied. It describes people, times, or things that are engaged or taken up. The feminine forms are occupée (singular) and occupées (plural); the masculine singular is occupé. In everyday usage, you might encounter phrases such as Ils sont occupés (They are busy) or Le temps occupé par les réunions (the time taken up by meetings). The sense can refer to a person’s schedule, a task, or a period of time.

Geopolitically or geographically, the phrase territoires occupés (occupied territories) is used to denote regions under foreign control. In grammar, occupé is also the past participle of occuper and forms compound tenses with the auxiliary avoir (j'ai occupé, il a occupé). When used as an adjective with être, the participle agrees in gender and number with the noun (la salle occupée, les lieux occupés).

Etymology traces occupé to the verb occuper, which in turn comes from Latin occupāre, meaning to seize or to occupy. The word retains both senses in modern French: to engage or fill time, and to control or hold a place, space, or position.

See also: occuper, occupation, occupé.