schaben

See also: Schaben

German

Etymology

From Middle High German schaben, from Old High German skaban, from Proto-West Germanic *skaban, from Proto-Germanic *skabaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skabʰ- (to scrape, scratch).

Cognate with Dutch schaven, English shave, Danish skave, Swedish skava, Icelandic skafa, Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (skaban).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃaːbən/, [ˈʃaː.bm̩], [-b(ə)n]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: scha‧ben
  • Rhymes: -aːbn̩

Verb

schaben (weak, third-person singular present schabt, past tense schabte, past participle geschabt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (usually transitive) to scrape, shave, plane, pare (remove or reduce the outer layer of something with a sharp object)
    Er schabt die Farbe mit dem Spachtel von der Wand.
    He scrapes the paint off the wall with a putty knife.
  2. (usually intransitive) to scrape, chafe, fret [with an (+ dative)]
    Die zu niedrig gehängte Tür schabt immer am Teppich.
    The door, which was installed too low, always scrapes the carpet.
  3. (reflexive) to scrub oneself [with an (+ dative) ‘on something hard’]
    Die Kuh schabt sich genüsslich an einem Zaunpfahl.
    The cow pleasurably scrubs herself on a fence post.
  4. (reflexive, rare or regional) to shave oneself
    Synonyms: rasieren, (dated) scheren

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

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