melken
Dutch
Etymology
From Middle Dutch melken, from Old Dutch *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.
Pronunciation
Verb
melken
- (transitive) To milk a (farm) animal.
- (intransitive) To play meekly, without risk, notably in duel ball sports like tennis.
Inflection
Conjugation of melken (strong class 3b) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | melken | |||
past singular | molk | |||
past participle | gemolken | |||
infinitive | melken | |||
gerund | melken n | |||
present tense | past tense | |||
1st person singular | melk | molk | ||
2nd person sing. (jij) | melkt, melk2 | molk | ||
2nd person sing. (u) | melkt | molk | ||
2nd person sing. (gij) | melkt | molkt | ||
3rd person singular | melkt | molk | ||
plural | melken | molken | ||
subjunctive sing.1 | melke | molke | ||
subjunctive plur.1 | melken | molken | ||
imperative sing. | melk | |||
imperative plur.1 | melkt | |||
participles | melkend | gemolken | ||
1) Archaic. 2) In case of inversion. |
Derived terms
Descendants
Related terms
German
Etymology
From Middle High German mëlken, from Old High German melchan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.
The consonantism -lk- is regular High German. The difference between melken and Milch is due to the fact that the latter used to have a short vowel after -l- (Old High German miluh). Compare Dutch melken, English milk, Danish malke, Norwegian mjølke.
Pronunciation
Verb
melken (class 3 strong or weak, third-person singular present milkt or melkt, past tense molk or melkte, past participle gemolken or (rare) gemelkt, past subjunctive mölke or melkte, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive) to milk (a cow, goat etc.)
- (transitive, figuratively) to drain; to draw from (someone or something), especially without consent; to milk (someone) for money, information, etc.
Conjugation
infinitive | melken | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | melkend | ||||
past participle | gemolken gemelkt1 | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich melke | wir melken | i | ich melke | wir melken |
du milkst du melkst |
ihr melkt | du melkest | ihr melket | ||
er milkt er melkt |
sie melken | er melke | sie melken | ||
preterite | ich molk ich melkte |
wir molken wir melkten |
ii | ich mölke2 ich melkte2 |
wir mölken2 wir melkten2 |
du molkst du melktest |
ihr molkt ihr melktet |
du mölkest2 du mölkst2 du melktest2 |
ihr mölket2 ihr mölkt2 ihr melktet2 | ||
er molk er melkte |
sie molken sie melkten |
er mölke2 er melkte2 |
sie mölken2 sie melkten2 | ||
imperative | milk (du) melk (du) melke (du) |
melkt (ihr) |
1Rare.
2Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
1Rare.
Usage notes
- Melken has full sets of both strong and weak forms, both being accepted as standard. The past participle gemolken is considerably more common than gemelkt. Otherwise there is possibly a tendency to prefer the strong forms in the northern half of the German Sprachraum and the weak forms in the southern half.
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “melken” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “melken” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “melken” in Duden online
- “melken” in OpenThesaurus.de
Middle Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.
Verb
melken
Inflection
Strong class 3 | ||
---|---|---|
Infinitive | melken | |
3rd sg. past | malc | |
3rd pl. past | molken | |
Past participle | molk | |
Infinitive | melken | |
In genitive | melkens | |
In dative | melkene | |
Indicative | Present | Past |
1st singular | melke | malc |
2nd singular | melcs, melkes | molcs, molkes |
3rd singular | melct, melket | malc |
1st plural | melken | molken |
2nd plural | melct, melket | molct, molket |
3rd plural | melken | molken |
Subjunctive | Present | Past |
1st singular | melke | molke |
2nd singular | melcs, melkes | molkes |
3rd singular | melke | molke |
1st plural | melken | molken |
2nd plural | melct, melket | molket |
3rd plural | melken | molken |
Imperative | Present | |
Singular | melc, melke | |
Plural | melct, melket | |
Present | Past | |
Participle | melkende | molk |
Descendants
Further reading
- “melken”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “melken”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN
Norwegian Bokmål
Alternative forms
Noun
melken m or f
- Dutch terms inherited from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms inherited from Old Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Old Dutch
- Dutch terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Dutch terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Dutch terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɛlkən
- Rhymes:Dutch/ɛlkən/2 syllables
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch verbs
- Dutch transitive verbs
- Dutch intransitive verbs
- Dutch class 3b strong verbs
- Dutch basic verbs
- German terms inherited from Middle High German
- German terms derived from Middle High German
- German terms inherited from Old High German
- German terms derived from Old High German
- German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio links
- German lemmas
- German verbs
- German strong verbs
- German class 3 strong verbs
- German weak verbs
- German verbs using haben as auxiliary
- German transitive verbs
- Middle Dutch terms inherited from Old Dutch
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Old Dutch
- Middle Dutch terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle Dutch terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Middle Dutch lemmas
- Middle Dutch verbs
- Middle Dutch class 3 strong verbs
- Norwegian Bokmål non-lemma forms
- Norwegian Bokmål noun forms