employer - Wiktionary, the free dictionary


Article Images

From employ +‎ -er, first attested in the late 16th century.[1] Compare French employeur.

employer (plural employers)

  1. A person, firm or other entity which pays for or hires the services of another person.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter X, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

      The skipper Mr. Cooke had hired at Far Harbor was a God-fearing man with a luke warm interest in his new billet and employer, and had only been prevailed upon to take charge of the yacht after the offer of an emolument equal to half a year's sea pay of an ensign in the navy.

    • 1973, E. F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful:

      the ideal from the point of view of the employer is to have output without employees, and the ideal from the point of view of the employee is to have income without employment.

person or entity which employs others

  1. ^ employer, n.”, in OED Online  , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Inherited from Middle French employer, from Old French emploier, emploiier, inherited from Latin implicāre. Doublet of impliquer, a borrowing.

employer

  1. (transitive) to use (a physical thing)
    Synonyms: se servir de, utiliser
  2. (transitive) to use (an abstract)

    On emploie cet adjectif pour décrire des choses.

    This adjective is used to describe things.
  3. (passive pronominal) to be used
  4. (transitive) to employ (a person)
    • 2005, Philippe Chassaigne, Ville et violence : tensions et conflits dans la Grande-Bretagne victorienne, page 37

      Les terrassiers étaient aussi employés à construire des maisons []

      The navvies were also employed to build houses []
  5. (passive pronominal) to be employed

This verb is part of a large group of -er verbs that conjugate like noyer or ennuyer. These verbs always replace the 'y' with an 'i' before a silent 'e'.

infinitive simple employer
compound avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple employant
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɑ̃/
compound ayant + past participle
past participle employé
/ɑ̃.plwa.je/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses)
present emploie
/ɑ̃.plwa/
emploies
/ɑ̃.plwa/
emploie
/ɑ̃.plwa/
employons
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɔ̃/
employez
/ɑ̃.plwa.je/
emploient
/ɑ̃.plwa/
imperfect employais
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɛ/
employais
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɛ/
employait
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɛ/
employions
/ɑ̃.plwaj.jɔ̃/
employiez
/ɑ̃.plwaj.je/
employaient
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɛ/
past historic2 employai
/ɑ̃.plwa.je/
employas
/ɑ̃.plwa.ja/
employa
/ɑ̃.plwa.ja/
employâmes
/ɑ̃.plwa.jam/
employâtes
/ɑ̃.plwa.jat/
employèrent
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɛʁ/
future emploierai
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁe/
emploieras
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁa/
emploiera
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁa/
emploierons
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁɔ̃/
emploierez
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁe/
emploieront
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁɔ̃/
conditional emploierais
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁɛ/
emploierais
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁɛ/
emploierait
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁɛ/
emploierions
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁjɔ̃/
emploieriez
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁje/
emploieraient
/ɑ̃.plwa.ʁɛ/
(compound
tenses)
present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses)
present emploie
/ɑ̃.plwa/
emploies
/ɑ̃.plwa/
emploie
/ɑ̃.plwa/
employions
/ɑ̃.plwaj.jɔ̃/
employiez
/ɑ̃.plwaj.je/
emploient
/ɑ̃.plwa/
imperfect2 employasse
/ɑ̃.plwa.jas/
employasses
/ɑ̃.plwa.jas/
employât
/ɑ̃.plwa.ja/
employassions
/ɑ̃.plwa.ja.sjɔ̃/
employassiez
/ɑ̃.plwa.ja.sje/
employassent
/ɑ̃.plwa.jas/
(compound
tenses)
past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative tu nous vous
simple emploie
/ɑ̃.plwa/
employons
/ɑ̃.plwa.jɔ̃/
employez
/ɑ̃.plwa.je/
compound simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

From Old French emploier, emploiier.

employer

  1. to employ; to use; to make use of
  • Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of employer

infinitive simple employer
compound avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2 simple employant
compound present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle employé
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative ie (i’) tu il, elle nous vous ilz, elles
(simple
tenses)
present employe employes employe employons employez employent
imperfect employois, employoys employois, employoys employoit, employoyt employions, employyons employiez, employyez employoient, employoyent
past historic employa employas employa employasmes employastes employerent
future employerai, employeray employeras employera employerons employerez employeront
conditional employerois, employeroys employerois, employeroys employeroit, employeroyt employerions, employeryons employeriez, employeryez employeroient, employeroyent
(compound
tenses)
present perfect present indicative of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
past anterior past historic of avoir + past participle
future perfect future of avoir + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive que ie (i’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple
tenses)
present employe employes employe employons employez employent
imperfect employasse employasses employast employassions employassiez employassent
(compound
tenses)
past present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
pluperfect imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative tu nous vous
simple employe employons employez
compound simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle simple imperative of avoir + past participle
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).