knibbeln

German

Etymology

Originally, and still chiefly, West Central German. Supposed to belong to knüpfen, regionally knüppen (“to knot”); but given the fact that the dialectal forms invariably have -bb- or -ww- a relation with knabbern (to nibble) seems much more likely.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈknɪbəln/

Verb

knibbeln (third-person singular simple present knibbelt, past tense knibbelte, past participle geknibbelt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (regional, chiefly western Germany) to scrape with one’s fingernails so as to remove something (e.g. a price tag)

Conjugation

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • abknibbeln
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