kauen

See also: käuen

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German kūwen, kiuwen, kewen, from Old High German kūwen, kiuwan, from Proto-West Germanic *keuwan.

The form shows the Central German development of Middle High German -iuw- → -ūw-, which is only sporadically reflected in the modern standard language (compare brauen). The expected form can still be found in the compound wiederkäuen (“to chew the cud”). Cognate with Dutch kauwen, Low German käwwen, West Frisian koaie, kôgje, English chew.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈkaʊ̯ən/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: kau‧en

Verb

kauen (weak, third-person singular present kaut, past tense kaute, past participle gekaut, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to chew (something)
  2. (intransitive, with an + dative) to chew on (something), to gnaw
  3. (usually with an) to bite (nails)
    Er kaut an den/seinen Nägeln.
    Er kaut seine Nägel. (Less common)
    He bites his nails.

Conjugation

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Further reading
  • “kauen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “kauen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • “kauen” in Duden online
  • “kauen” in OpenThesaurus.de
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