rendant

Rendant is the present participle of the French verb rendre, meaning to render, to give back, to return, or more broadly to cause to become or to present. In modern French, rendre covers a wide range of senses, including returning an object (rendre un livre), causing a state (rendre heureux), or presenting a result (rendre compte, to account for). The participle form with -ant, rendre’s present participle, is used to form the gerundial construction en rendant, which expresses concurrent action or manner.

As a gerund, rendre’s participle is most commonly seen in en phrases such as en rendant visite, meaning by visiting or while visiting. For example: En rendant visite à ses amis, il leur a apporté des fleurs. The participle can also function in attributive or descriptive positions, e.g., un roi rendant justice, meaning a king rendering justice; such usage is literary or formal and highlights ongoing action associated with the noun.

Etymologically, rendre comes from Old French rendre, itself from Latin reddere, “to give back, restore.” It is cognate with related Romance forms, reflecting the broader Latin root reddere across the family of languages.

In English-language use, rendre or rendant is typically encountered only in direct discussion of French grammar or in translations; it is not a common English term outside academic or linguistic contexts. The word may appear as part of names or titles but is primarily a French grammatical form.

See also: rendre, rendu, rendre compte, rendre visite, rendre justice.