selten
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German[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle High German selten, selden, from Old High German seltan, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate with English seldom, Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, Danish sjælden, Norwegian sjelden, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
selten (strong nominative masculine singular seltener or (uncommon) seltner, not comparable)
- rare, infrequent, uncommon, scarce
- unusual, curious
- 1924, Friedrich Bernhard Störzner, Das weiße Männchen auf dem Kirchberge, in: Reinhardtswalder Sagenbüchlein, Buchhandlung Otto Schmidt, page 11:
- Droben am Himmel funkelten die Sterne in seltener Pracht.
- Up in the sky the stars sparkled in unusual magnificence.
- 1924, Friedrich Bernhard Störzner, Das weiße Männchen auf dem Kirchberge, in: Reinhardtswalder Sagenbüchlein, Buchhandlung Otto Schmidt, page 11:
Usage notes[edit]
- The contracted comparative seltner is per se rare, but is occasionally used in attributive position: ein noch seltneres Phänomen − "an ever rarer phenomenon". This is done to avoid the three consecutive reduced syllables in selteneres etc.
Declension[edit]
Positive forms of selten (uncomparable)
1Uncommon.
Derived terms[edit]
Adverb[edit]
selten
- seldom; rarely
- Er ist selten unfreundlich.
- He’s rarely ever unfriendly.
- (chiefly informal, with adjective) unusually; extremely [from 18th c. or older]
- Der Typ war ja selten unfreundlich!
- That guy was extremely unfriendly!
- Das ist selten dämlich.
- That’s peculiarly stupid.
Usage notes[edit]
- The two senses are distinguishable by context and intonation.
Synonyms[edit]
- (extremely): See Thesaurus:sehr
See also[edit]
probability | 100 % | ~90 % | ~50 % | ~10 % | 0 % | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adverb | immer | fast immer, meistens | sehr häufig, sehr oft | öfters, des öfteren, häufig, oft | gelegentlich, manchmal, zuweilen | nicht häufig, nicht oft | selten | sehr selten, fast nie | nie |
Further reading[edit]
Categories:
- 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 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio links
- German lemmas
- German adjectives
- German uncomparable adjectives
- German terms with quotations
- German adverbs
- German terms with usage examples
- German informal terms