verzeihen

See also: Verzeihen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German verzīhen,[1] from Old High German firzīhan. Equivalent to ver- +‎ zeihen.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /fɛɐ̯ˈtsaɪ̯ən/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ver‧zei‧hen

Verb

verzeihen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present verzeiht, past tense verzieh, past participle verziehen, auxiliary haben)

  1. to forgive; to pardon; to excuse [with dative ‘someone’ (optional) and accusative ‘for something’]
    Der österreichische Psychologe Alfred Adler […] setzte sich scharf von Freud als Übervater der Psychoanalyse ab. Dies hat ihm Sigmund Freud nie verziehen
    The Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler [...] sharply distanced himself from Freud as the father of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud never forgave him for this

Usage notes

Verzeihen implies a lesser degree of guilt than vergeben which is used in the context of sin or crime, or a severe misbehaviour.

Conjugation

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge (1883) “verzeihen”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Further reading

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