Tacken

See also: täcken

German

Alternative forms
  • Tacke

Etymology

From German Low German Tack, Tacken (“jag, tooth”). Cognate with German Zacken (“idem”) and Dutch tak (“branch”). The modern sense is from mechanics, that is from machines in which different steps or stages are set by means of a gear wheel. Compare the German expression einen Zahn zulegen (“to hurry up”).

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈtakən/, [ˈtʰakʰ(ə)n], [ˈtʰa.ʔŋ]

Noun

Tacken m (genitive Tackens, plural Tacken)

  1. (colloquial, regional, chiefly Northern Germany) A bit, a tad, a degree, a level (in the context of “more” and “less”)
    Kannste die Heizung ’n Tacken aufdrehen?
    Could you turn the heating up a bit?
    Der kleine Tacken, den sie zu früh gestartet ist, hat ihr vielleicht den Sieg gebracht.
    That little tad she started early, may have given her the victory.
  2. (colloquial, regional, chiefly Northern Germany) quid, bucks (a term for money)
    Dat kost’ 20 Tacken.
    That's 20 quid.
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