fenecer

Presumably from Spanish fenecer, itself from Latin Latin finīre with a change from the fourth conjugation to an -eç-/-ec- infixed third conjugation (resulting in a second conjugation verb in both languages).

• Hyphenation: fe‧ne‧cer

fenecer (first-person singular present feneço, first-person singular preterite feneci, past participle fenecido)

1. to finish, end, conclude
   • 1938, Vinicius de Moraes, Soneto do Maior Amor:

     Louco amor meu, que quando toca, fere
     E quando fere vibra, mas prefere
     Ferir a fenecer — e vive a esmo

     Crazy love of mine, that when it touches, it hurts
     And when it hurts, it vibrates, but it prefers
     Hurting to ending — and it lives haphazardly

• “fenecer”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “fenecer”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “fenecer”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “fenecer”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025

Inherited from Old Spanish fenir (restructured per various conjugations), from Latin fīnīre. Doublet of finir.

• IPA^(key): /feneˈθeɾ/ [fe.neˈθeɾ] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /feneˈseɾ/ [fe.neˈseɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɾ
• Syllabification: fe‧ne‧cer

fenecer (first-person singular present fenezco, first-person singular preterite fenecí, past participle fenecido)

1. (transitive, rare) to end, finish, conclude
2. (intransitive, archaic) to end, conclude
3. (intransitive) to die, perish

• “fenecer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024