rangeln

German

Etymology

18th century, from Low German, from Middle Low German rangelen (to wrestle), iterative of rangen, byform of wrangen (to struggle). Cognate with English wrangle. Related with German ringen (to wring one's hands), auswringen (wring out), from Proto-Germanic *wringaną. The irregular loss of initial w- in Middle Low German is due to influence by ringen (to wrestle), which is from a totally different root (Proto-Germanic *hringaną, related with Ring).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʁaŋəln/
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

rangeln (weak, third-person singular present rangelt, past tense rangelte, past participle gerangelt, auxiliary haben) (intransitive)

  1. to jostle, scrap, wrestle (fight physically without dealing serious blows)
  2. (figurative, with um) to jockey, wrangle for

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

  • rangeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • rangeln” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • rangeln” in Duden online