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riechen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German riechen, from Old High German riohhan, from Proto-West Germanic *reukan, from Proto-Germanic *reukaną.

Compare English reek, Dutch rieken, Danish ryge, Swedish ryka. See also Rauch, Geruch.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈʁiːçn̩/, /ˈʁiːçən/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio (Austria):(file)

Verb

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riechen (class 2 strong, third-person singular present riecht, past tense roch, past participle gerochen, past subjunctive röche, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to smell (something); to sniff (something)
  2. (intransitive) to use the sense of smell; to detect a smell
  3. (transitive) to smell something
    Ich rieche dein Parfüm.
    I smell your perfume.
  4. (intransitive) to reek; to smell bad
  5. (copulative) to smell [with nach (+ dative) ‘like/of something’]
    Im Haus riecht es nach gebratenem Fisch.
    In the house it smells like fried fish.
    Der Kuchen riecht lecker!
    The cake smells delicious!
  6. (transitive, slang) to tolerate (someone); to stand (someone)
    Ich kann ihn nicht riechen.
    I cannot stand him.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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