säubern

German

Etymology

From Middle High German siubern, sūbern, from Old High German sūbaren, sūbiren, sūbarōn. By surface analysis, sauber +‎ -n.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈzɔʏ̯bəʁn/, [ˈzɔʏ̯bɐn] (Germany)
  • IPA(key): /ˈsɔʏ̯bɛʁn/, [ˈsɔɛ̯-], [-bɐn] (Austria, Southern Germany, Switzerland)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: säu‧bern

Verb

säubern (weak, third-person singular present säubert, past tense säuberte, past participle gesäubert, auxiliary haben)

  1. to clean, to cleanse
    Synonyms: saubermachen; reinigen

Usage notes

Säubern also is used in political context: eine Organisation säubern "to remove politically unwanted persons from an organisation". One cannot use saubermachen and reinigen in this context.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading