prospéré

Prospéré is the past participle of the French verb prospérer, meaning to prosper or flourish. In standard modern usage, it primarily appears in compound tenses to indicate that something has prospered, as in les résultats ont prospéré. As an adjective, prospéré is rare in contemporary French and is largely superseded by prospère, which means prosperous. When used as an attributive adjective in older or more formal prose, prospéré can convey a completed state of prosperity, but this usage is uncommon today.

Etymology and related forms: Prospérer comes from Latin prosperare, from prosperus meaning favorable or prosperous. The related noun is prospérité (prosperity); the more common modern adjective is prospère, while prospéré remains chiefly a linguistic or historical form.

Usage notes: For most speakers and writers, describing a state of prosperity is done with prospère (un pays prospère) or with nouns such as prospérité. The participle prospéré is correctly used with auxiliary avoir in passé composé and other compound tenses to describe a verb action that has already occurred (e.g., les échanges ont prospéré). It is not generally used as a standalone descriptive adjective in everyday speech.

See also: prospérer, prospère, prospérité.