kneifen

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

Derived from earlier kneipen, from Middle Low German knīpen, from Old Saxon *knīpan, from Proto-West Germanic *knīpan. Cognate with Dutch knijpen.

The form with -f- is an adaptation to the High German consonantism, for which there may have been rare antetypes in northern dialects of Central German, but which was chiefly artificial. Kneipen remained predominant until the earlier 19th century, but was somewhat informal. The more standard-looking kneifen then fully established itself in written German and displaced kneipen by the mid-20th century.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈknaɪ̯fən/
  • Audio(file)

Verb

kneifen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present kneift, past tense kniff, past participle gekniffen, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive or intransitive) to pinch, to squeeze
  2. (intransitive) to chicken out; to back out; to shirk
    vor etwas kneifen ― to shirk something

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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