ferment

English

Etymology

From Middle English ferment, from Middle French ferment, from Latin fermentāre (“to leaven, ferment”), from fermentum (“substance causing fermentation”), from fervēre (“to boil, seethe”). See also fervent.

Pronunciation

• (verb):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈmɛnt/

    • Audio (Southern England):

      (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /fɚˈmɛnt/
  • Rhymes: -ɛnt
• (noun):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɜː.mɛnt/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɚ.mɛnt/

Verb

ferment (third-person singular simple present ferments, present participle fermenting, simple past and past participle fermented)

1. To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.
   • 2020 November 18, Drachinifel, 6:21 from the start, in The Salvage of Pearl Harbor Pt 2 - Up She Rises!‎^[1], archived from the original on 22 October 2022:

     The cleanup job would turn out to be possibly second only to body-recovery duty in terms of being a job that nobody wanted to get assigned to. Imagine, for a moment, a thick soup of oil, paper, ink, clothing, raw meat and other fresh provisions, and worse, that had all been left to collect together in semi-warm water, all enclosed in a large metal container that had then been subjected to heating by first fire and then repeated warm Hawaiian days, and then left to ferment for over a month, and then with most of the water drained away and all the remaining solid and semi-liquid mass collecting together in pools and heaps across multiple decks, still in a relatively-enclosed environment.

2. To stir up, agitate, cause unrest or excitement in.
   • 1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:

     Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood.

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Winter”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 165, lines 10–14:

     Pleas'd have I wander'd thro' your rough domain; / Trod the pure virgin-ſnows, myſelf as pure; / Heard the winds roar, and the big torrent burſt; / Or ſeen the deep fermenting tempeſt brew'd, / In the grim evening ſky.

Derived terms

• referment, re-ferment

Translations

to react using fermentation

• Albanian: thar (sq), ngrydh
• Arabic: خَمَرَ (ar) (ḵamara)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: hartzitu
• Bulgarian: ферменти́рам (bg) (fermentíram), кипя (bg) (kipja)
• Burmese: အချဉ်ဖောက် (my) (a.hkyanyhpauk)
• Catalan: fermentar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 發酵／发酵 (zh) (fājiào)

• Czech: kvasit (cs)
• Danish: gære, fermentere
• Dutch: gisten (nl)
• Esperanto: fermenti
• Estonian: käärima
• Finnish: käyttää (fi), panna käymään
• French: fermenter (fr)
• Galician: fermentar (gl), cocer (gl)
• Georgian: ფერმენტირდება (permenṭirdeba), აფერმენტირებს (apermenṭirebs)
• German: gären (de)
• Greek: αναβράζω (el) (anavrázo), ζυμώνω (el) (zymóno)
• Hawaiian: hū
• Hungarian: erjeszt (hu)
• Icelandic: gerja
• Irish: coip
• Italian: fermentare (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Kapampangan: buru
• Khmer: ផ្អាប់ទុក (phʼap tuk), ឡើង (km) (laəng) (of dough)
• Komi-Zyrian: шутны (šutny)
• Korean: 발효하다 (ko) (balhyohada)
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: fermentō
• Latvian: rūgt (lv), raudzēt (lv), rudzināt
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: врие (vrie), се кваси (se kvasi), ферменти́ра (fermentíra)
• Malayalam: പുളിപ്പിക്കുക (ml) (puḷippikkuka) (transitive), പുളിക്കുക (ml) (puḷikkuka) (intransitive)
• Maori: māhī, moī, whakamoī, toroī, rēwena
• Mongolian: хөөх (mn) (xööx), исэх (mn) (isex)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fermentere, gjære

• Polish: fermentować (pl) impf, sfermentować (pl) pf, kisić (pl) impf, skisić pf, ukisić pf, zakisić pf
• Portuguese: fermentar (pt)
• Quechua: p'uchquy
• Romanian: fermenta (ro), dospi (ro)
• Russian: броди́ть (ru) (brodítʹ) (intransitive), ферменти́ровать (ru) (fermentírovatʹ), ква́сить (ru) (kvásitʹ) (transitive)
• Spanish: fermentar (es)
• Swedish: jäsa (sv), fermentera (sv)
• Tahitian: hōpue
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Udmurt: шутыны (šutyny)
• Ukrainian: броди́ти (uk) impf (brodýty) (intransitive), ферментува́ти impf (fermentuváty)
• Vietnamese: lên men (vi)
• Volapük: färmäntön (vo)
• Welsh: eplesu (cy)
• Yiddish: יוירן (yoyrn), יערן (yern), גערן (gern), ייִרן (yirn), אירן (irn)
• Yoruba: bà

to cause unrest

• Dutch: stoken (nl)
• Finnish: lietsoa (fi), nostattaa (fi), kuohuttaa (fi), hämmentää (fi)
• German: stören (de), anstacheln (de)
• Hebrew: להציט, להתסיס
• Italian: fermentare (it)
• Russian: волнова́ть (ru) (volnovátʹ), возбужда́ть (ru) (vozbuždátʹ)

Noun

ferment (plural ferments)

1. Something, such as a yeast or barm, that causes fermentation.
2. A state of agitation or of turbulent change.
   • a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation:

     Subdue and cool the ferment of desire.

   • 14 November, 1770, Junius, letter to the Right Honourable Lord Mansfield

     The nation is in a ferment.

   • 1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 104

     Clad in a Persian-Renaissance gown and a widow's tiara of white batiste, Mrs Thoroughfare, in all the ferment of a Marriage-Christening, left her chamber on vapoury autumn day and descending a few stairs, and climbing a few others, knocked a trifle brusquely at her son's wife's door.

3. A gentle internal motion of the constituent parts of a fluid; fermentation.
   • 1748, James Thomson, “Canto II”, in The Castle of Indolence: […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, stanza XXX, page 56:

     A Rage of Pleaſure madden'd every Breaſt, / Down to the loweſt Lees the Ferment ran: [...]

4. A catalyst.

Translations

substance causing fermentation

• Bulgarian: ферме́нт (bg) m (fermént), мая (bg) f (maja)
• Catalan: ferment (ca) m
• Dutch: gist (nl)
• Finnish: hapate (fi), fermentti, käyte (fi)
• Galician: fermento (gl) m
• German: Gärmittel
• Irish: gabháil f
• Latin: fermentum n
• Macedonian: маја f (maja), ферме́нт m (fermént)
• Portuguese: fermento (pt) m
• Romanian: ferment (ro) m, enzimă (ro) f
• Russian: ферме́нт (ru) m (fermént)
• Swedish: jäsningsämne n, jäsämne n

state of agitation

• Bulgarian: ферментация f (fermentacija), кипене (bg) n (kipene)
• Catalan: ferment (ca) m
• Finnish: kuohunta (fi), käymistila
• Irish: corraíl f, suaitheadh m, rírá m
• Macedonian: превирање n (previranje)
• Russian: возбужде́ние (ru) n (vozbuždénije), волне́ние (ru) n (volnénije)
• Welsh: achor m

gentle internal movement

• Finnish: käymistila, käyminen (fi)

catalyst

• Finnish: katalyytti (fi)

See also

• foment

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “ferment”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “ferment”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Fermentation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• fretmen

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

ferment

1. third-person plural present indicative/subjunctive of fermer

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin fermentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛr.mɛnt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrmɛnt
• Syllabification: fer‧ment

Noun

ferment m inan

1. ferment, unrest
2. (archaic, biochemistry) enzyme

   Synonym: enzym

Declension

Declension of ferment

	singular	plural
nominative	ferment	fermenty
genitive	fermentu	fermentów
dative	fermentowi	fermentom
accusative	ferment	fermenty
instrumental	fermentem	fermentami
locative	fermencie	fermentach
vocative	fermencie	fermenty

Related terms

adjective

• fermentacyjny

 

noun

• fermentacja

 

verbs

• fermentować
• sfermentować

 

Further reading

• ferment in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ferment in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ferment, from Latin fermentum.

Noun

ferment m (plural fermenți)

1. ferment

Declension

Declension of ferment

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) ferment	fermentul	(niște) fermenți	fermenții
genitive/dative	(unui) ferment	fermentului	(unor) fermenți	fermenților
vocative	fermentule		fermenților