würgen

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See also: wurgen

German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German würgen, from Old High German wurgen, from Proto-Germanic *wurgijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *werǵʰ- (bind, squeeze). Cognate with Dutch wurgen, worgen, English worry.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈvʏrɡən/, [ˈvʏʁ.ɡŋ̍], [ˈvʏɐ̯-], [ˈʋ-], [-ɡən]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: wür‧gen

Verb

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würgen (weak, third-person singular present würgt, past tense würgte, past participle gewürgt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to strangle, choke
    Die Krawatte ist so eng, dass sie mich würgt.
    The tie is so tight that it's choking me.
  2. (intransitive) to gag, retch
    Als er die Leiche sah, musste er würgen.
    When he saw the corpse, he had to retch.
  3. (intransitive) to have trouble chewing or swallowing, to gag on [with an (+ dative) ‘something’]
    Er würgte an einem allzu großen Bissen.
    He gagged on an all too big bite.
    Ich wollte höflich sein, also würgte ich tapfer an dem zähen, versalzenen Fleisch.
    I wanted to be polite, so I bravely tried to chew the sinewy, oversalted meat.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • würgen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • würgen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • würgen” in Duden online
  • würgen” in OpenThesaurus.de