succèdé

Succédé is the past participle of the French verb succéder, meaning to follow or to succeed someone or something, typically by taking over a position, role, or sequence. It is used in compound tenses and especially in passive constructions to indicate that one person or entity was succeeded by another.

In everyday French, succéder is most often used with expressions like succéder à, meaning to succeed someone or to come after them in a role or office. For example, “X a succédé à Y” means that X followed Y in a position. In the passive voice, the past participle acquires an agent by introducing par, as in “X a été succédé par Z,” meaning that Z succeeded X. The form succédé declines like an ordinary past participle: masculine singular succédé, feminine singulière succédée, masculine plural succédés, feminine plural succédées.

Grammatical notes include that the auxiliary for the active passé composé using succéder with à is typically avoir (Il a succédé à son père), whereas the passive construction uses être (Il a été succédé par son fils). The participle agrees with the subject in passive constructions and with the preceding direct object when applicable in certain compound tenses in other contexts.

Etymologically, succédé derives from Latin succedere, meaning to come after or to follow, formed from sub or a related prefix with cedere, “to go” or “to yield.” Related words include successeur (successor), succession, and subsequent.

In use, succédé appears primarily in formal or descriptive writing, historical accounts of offices or lineage, and in idiomatic phrases describing succession or appointment. It contrasts with remplacer or prendre la suite, which also convey following or replacing but with slightly different nuance.