verteidigen

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German verteidingen from vertagedingen, derived from teidinc, tagedinc (originally "judgment", then "talk, chatter", so Narrenteiding (foolish chatter)) of tac (day) and ding (negotiation). By surface analysis, ver- +‎ Tag +‎ Ding +‎ -en. The term developed semantically from "court day with negotiations" > "to defend in court" > "to defend". Cognate with Dutch verdedigen.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡən], [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡn̩], [fɛɐ̯ˈtaɪ̯dɪɡŋ̩]
  • Audio:(file)
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  • Hyphenation: ver‧tei‧di‧gen

Verb

verteidigen (weak, third-person singular present verteidigt, past tense verteidigte, past participle verteidigt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to defend (from attack)
  2. to justify (an opinion, behavior, etc.)

Conjugation

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Further reading