saccroître

S'accroître is a French pronominal verb meaning to increase or to grow, typically referring to the size, number, or extent of something without a direct object. It is intransitive and describes a process in which the subject itself becomes larger or more numerous. Examples include la population s’accroît rapidement or les ressources s’accroissent sous l’effet de la croissance économique.

Usage notes or nuance: The verb conveys natural or gradual growth and is common in formal writing, statistics, economics, demography, and biology. It can also express the intensification of a situation, as in les tensions qui s’accroissent. In contrast, the non-reflexive form accroître means “to increase” something externally or to augment a quantity or asset, and it can take a direct object (on accroît les dépenses, on accroît le capital). S’accroître emphasizes the subject’s own growth rather than an external action on an object.

Etymology and forms: S’accroître comes from accroître, which in turn derives from Old French acroistre and ultimately from Latin accrescere “to grow, to increase.” The reflexive form follows the usual pattern of pronominal verbs and uses être as the auxiliary in compound tenses. For example, present tense forms include je m’accrois, tu t’accrois, il s’accroît, nous nous accroissons, vous vous accroissez, ils s’accroissent. The passé composé typically uses être, with agreement with the subject (la population s’est accrue).

See also: accroître (transitive counterpart), croître (to grow).