peiné

Peiné is a French term derived from the verb peiner, meaning to cause pain, trouble, or to suffer. As an adjective, peiné describes someone who is distressed or pained, often in reference to emotional or moral difficultie. It can be used predicatively, as in “Il est peiné,” or attributively, as in “un homme peiné.” The feminine form is peinée.

Etymology and related forms: peiner comes from Old French and ultimately traces back to the noun peine, meaning pain, trouble, or punishment. The past participle peiné forms a common adjective in modern French and agrees with gender and number (peiné, peinée, peinés, peinées). The related noun peine remains widely used to denote trouble, effort, or punishment.

Usage and nuance: peiné conveys a sense of sorrow, regret, or emotional burden. It can describe a person’s emotional state or a weighing difficulty in a given situation. The expression peut être utilisé with de or à in certain constructions; for example, “il est peiné de la nouvelle” emphasizes sorrow upon hearing news, while “peiner à faire quelque chose” means to have difficulty doing something. In everyday language, peiné can be replaced by synonyms such as affligé, douloureux, or pénible depending on nuance.

Frequency and register: peiné remains understood in contemporary French and appears in literature, journalism, and speech, though it is somewhat formal and not as common in colloquial speech as more direct terms like triste or douloureux. It is often encountered in written French to convey a measured sense of emotional weight or hardship.

See also: peine, peiner, peinade (rarely used), affligé, douloureux.