zerfleddern

• zerfledern (dated)

Late 18th century, of dialectal, especially East Central German, origin, from zer- +‎ fled(d)ern, the latter from Middle High German vlëderen (“to flutter”), related with flattern, Fledermaus. The form with -dd- may be expressive or due to shortening before -er- (as in Hammer, Mutter, Widder etc.).

• IPA^(key): /tserˈflɛdərn/, [t͡sɐˈflɛ.dɐn], [t͡sɛɐ̯-]

• Audio:

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zerfleddern (weak, third-person singular present zerfleddert, past tense zerfledderte, past participle zerfleddert, auxiliary haben)

1. to damage something delicate, chiefly a book or piece of paper, by handling it uncarefully; to tatter

   Synonyms: zerfetzen, zerrupfen

   Auf dem Flohmarkt habe ich ein zerfleddertes Buch gefunden, das mich inhaltlich interessierte.

   At the fleamarket I found a tattered book whose content I thought interesting.

• Some dictionaries still treat zerfledern as the main variant. However, the dd-form has been predominant since circa 1950 and by the early 21st century it was about 30 times commoner.^[1]