schwemmen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German swemmen, from Old High German *swemmen, from Proto-Germanic *swammijaną. Equivalent to a causative of schwimmen, thus originally “to make swim or float”. Cognate with Old English beswemman.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃvɛmən/, [ˈʃʋɛ.mən], [-mn̩], [-mm̩]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Homophones: schwämmen, Schwämmen, Schwemmen

Verb

schwemmen (weak, third-person singular present schwemmt, past tense schwemmte, past participle geschwemmt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (with some adverbial of place) to wash (move by the current of water)
    Synonym: spülen
    Die Leiche wurde ans Ufer geschwemmt.
    The corpse was washed ashore.
  2. (figurative) to bring (something somewhere) in large quantities

Conjugation

Derived terms