surchargé

Surchargé is a French adjective and the past participle of surcharger, meaning "overloaded," "overburdened," or "overfilled." It is used to describe objects, systems, or people that carry more weight, load, or traffic than their capacity allows, as well as more figuratively to indicate excessive demands on someone’s time or resources.

Etymology and forms: The word is formed from sur- meaning "over" and charger meaning "to load." The masculine singular form is surchargé, the feminine is surchargée; masculine plural surchargés, feminine plural surchargées. When used predicatively, it can be followed by de to indicate the cause or content, as in être surchargé de travail ("to be overwhelmed with work").

Usage notes and contexts: In technical contexts, surchargé frequently describes congested infrastructure or systems, such as un réseau surchargé ("a congested network") or un serveur surchargé ("a overloaded server"). It can also describe a person’s schedule or workload, for example, un emploi du temps surchargé ("a busy schedule") or une équipe surchargée de tâches. The related noun surcharge refers to an extra charge or an excess load, and is distinct from the adjective surchargé but shares the same prefix and root.

See also: surcharger; surcharge. In English translations, surchargé is often rendered as "overloaded" or "overburdened," depending on context.