schminken

German

Etymology

Schminke +‎ -en

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃmɪŋkən/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: schmin‧ken

Verb

schminken (weak, third-person singular present schminkt, past tense schminkte, past participle geschminkt, auxiliary haben) (transitive)

  1. to put on (make-up, lipstick, etc.), to make up one's face
    Antonym: abschminken
    Ich schminke mich immer zu Hause vor dem Spiegel.
    I always put on my make-up at home in front of the mirror.
  2. to put on facepaint (e.g. as part of a costume, sometimes also applied to other parts of the body)
    Antonym: abschminken
    als jemand geschminkt sein
    to be made up to look like someone (e.g. a cartoon character)

Usage notes

  • The accusative object is usually the person or body part being painted. However, especially for the general sense of applying paint to skin, it can also describe what is being painted, such as animal patterns or fake wounds, akin to verbs like malen.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

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