fletschen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German vletschen (bare one's teeth), from or related to vletzen (flatten, spread out) (for the change of -tz- to -tsch, compare rutschen), related to Old High German flaz and English flat.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈflɛt͡ʃn̩/
  • Hyphenation: flet‧schen

Verb

fletschen (weak, third-person singular present fletscht, past tense fletschte, past participle gefletscht, auxiliary haben)

  1. to bare (one's teeth), snarl
    • 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Trüber Tag. Feld”, in Faust: Der Tragödie erster Teil [Faust, Part One]:
      Fletsche deine gefräßigen Zähne mir nicht so entgegen! Mir ekelt’s!
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1883–1885, Friedrich Nietzsche, “Das andere Tanzlied”, in Also sprach Zarathustra [] [Thus Spoke Zarathustra]:
      Du fletschest mich lieblich an mit weissen Zähnlein, deine bösen Augen springen gegen mich aus lockichtem Mähnlein!
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjugation

References

  1. fletschen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Further reading

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