reißen

See also: reissen

German

Alternative forms

• reissen (Switzerland)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle High German rizen, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old High German rīzan (“to scratch”). From a merger of two similar verbs:

• (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *wrītaną, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to cut, scratch, tear, sketch an outline”)
• (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *hrītaną.

Cognate with English rat (“to rip up, tear, rend”), Dutch rijten (“to rip up, tear, rend”), Low German riten (“to rip, tear, rend”), Luxembourgish räissen (“to scratch, tear, rip apart”), Hunsrik reise, Saterland Frisian riete (“to rip, tear”).

Compare also Dutch wrijten (“to argue, quarrel”), English write (“to inscribe, engrave, imprint”), Swedish rita (“to draw, design, delineate, model”), Icelandic ríta (“to cut, scratch, write”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʀaɪ̯sn̩/, /ˈʀaɪ̯sən/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

1. (transitive, auxiliary: “haben”) to tear (something); to pull (something) apart
   • 1918, Elisabeth von Heyking, Aus dem Lande der Ostseeritter, in Zwei Erzählungen, Phillipp Reclam jun., page 100:

     Es war als rängen beständig zwei Mächte um sie, als würde sie wehrlos von ihnen hin und her gerissen.

     It was as if two powers struggled over her continuously, as if she was torn to and fro by them defenselessly.

2. (intransitive, auxiliary: “sein”) to break; to become torn apart
3. (transitive, auxiliary: “haben”) to snatch; to wrench; to yank; to drag; to tug; to pull on (something)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• abreißen
• anreißen
• aufreißen
• einreißen

• entreißen
• hinreißen
• losreißen
• mitreißen

• reißfest
• Reißverschluss
• verreißen
• zerreißen

Related terms

• Riss

Further reading

• “reißen” in Duden online