guère

Meaning

hardly, barely

Concepts

hardly

scarcely

scarce

barely

just

little

at a premium

harshly

remotely

uneath

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡɛʁ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French guere(s), from Old French gaire(s), guaire(s) (“much”), from Frankish *waigaro (“much”). Compare Middle High German unweiger (“not much”), which corresponds closely to the French construct. Romance cognates are Occitan and Catalan gaire, Italian guari.

Sentences

On raconte qu'à l'époque ces familles ne se parlaient guère .

It is said that at the time these families hardly spoke to each other.