schmieren
German
Alternative forms
- schmirben, schmirwen (southern, obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle High German smirn, from older smirwen, from Old High German smirwen, from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną, derived from *smerwą, whence dated German Schmer (“fat”).
The loss of -w- is mostly a Central German development; compare fahl and falb, etc. Cognate with Dutch smeren, English smear.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʃmiːʁən/
Audio: (file) - Hyphenation: schmie‧ren
- Rhymes: -iːʁən
Verb
schmieren (weak, third-person singular present schmiert, past tense schmierte, past participle geschmiert, auxiliary haben)
- to smear
- to butter (bread)
- to grease, oil, lubricate
- to bribe
- (colloquial) to scribble, to scrawl
- to deface (with writing or imagery)
- Hakenkreuze an Mauern schmieren
- to deface walls with swastikas
Conjugation
| infinitive | schmieren | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | schmierend | ||||
| past participle | geschmiert | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich schmiere | wir schmieren | i | ich schmiere | wir schmieren |
| du schmierst | ihr schmiert | du schmierest | ihr schmieret | ||
| er schmiert | sie schmieren | er schmiere | sie schmieren | ||
| preterite | ich schmierte | wir schmierten | ii | ich schmierte1 | wir schmierten1 |
| du schmiertest | ihr schmiertet | du schmiertest1 | ihr schmiertet1 | ||
| er schmierte | sie schmierten | er schmierte1 | sie schmierten1 | ||
| imperative | schmier (du) schmiere (du) |
schmiert (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Derived terms
- Schmierer, Schmierung
- schmierig
- beschmieren, verschmieren
Related terms
- Schmierblatt
- Schmierenstück
- Schmierentheater
- Schmiergeld
- Schmieröl
- Schmierpapier
- Schmierseife
- Schmierzettel
Further reading
- “schmieren” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “schmieren” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “schmieren” in Duden online
- “schmieren” in OpenThesaurus.de
Luxembourgish
Etymology
From Middle High German smirn, from older smirwen, from Old High German smirwen, from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną.
Cognate with German schmieren, Dutch smeren, English smear, Icelandic smyrja.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʃmiəʀən/
Verb
schmieren (third-person singular present schmiert, past participle geschmiert, auxiliary verb hunn)
- (transitive) to smear, to spread
- (transitive) to grease, to lubricate
- (transitive) to bribe, to butter up
- (intransitive) to scrawl, to write messily
Conjugation
| infinitive | schmieren | |
|---|---|---|
| participle | geschmiert | |
| auxiliary | hunn | |
| present indicative |
imperative | |
| 1st singular | schmieren | — |
| 2nd singular | schmiers | schmier |
| 3rd singular | schmiert | — |
| 1st plural | schmieren | — |
| 2nd plural | schmiert | schmiert |
| 3rd plural | schmieren | — |
(n) or (nn) indicates the Eifeler Regel.