räif

See also: Räif

Luxembourgish

Etymology

Borrowed from German reif (“ripe, mature”). The word is not attested in any Luxembourgish dictionary before the LOD. While räif would indeed be the expected descendant of Old High German rīfi, from Proto-Germanic *rīpiz, the word is missing also in the neighbouring dialects of Moselle Franconian and originally in much of Rhine Franconian (in which latter there are local forms with the vowel of Middle High German ei instead of ī, which also attest to non-native origin). In the whole region, the inherited word for “ripe” is Middle High German zītec (literally “timely”).

The long diphthong äi (instead of ei) must have been chosen by analogy with words where Luxembourgish -äif- corresponds to German -eif-, most notably the homonym Räif (“rime, frost”), but also others like gräifen etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ʀæˑɪ̯f]
• Rhymes: -æːɪf
• Homophone: Räif

Adjective

räif (masculine räifen, neuter räift, comparative méi räif, superlative am räifsten)

1. (of a person, behaviour) mature, having or expressing sufficient development

   Synonym: maturéiert

2. (figurative) ripe, ready, fit for something

   Synonyms: bereet, prett, zeideg

Declension

Declension of räif

		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		hien ass räif	si ass räif	et ass räif	si si(nn) räif
nominative / accusative	attributive and/or after determiner	räifen	räif	räift	räif
	independent without determiner			räifes	räifer
dative	after any declined word	räifen	räifer	räifen	räifen
	as first declined word	räifem		räifem

Derived terms

• fréiräif
• räifen

See also

• zeideg (“ripe”, of a fruit etc.)

Further reading

• räif in the Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire