betichten

Possibly formed from Middle Dutch beticht (“legal claim, accusation”). However, beticht does not appear to be attested in modern Dutch (after 1500) whereas the verb betichten only appears around that time. Since it is unlikely that a verb would be formed from a noun that was falling out of use already, it is likely that it was formed directly as ticht +‎ be- -en instead.

• IPA^(key): /bəˈtɪxtə(n)/

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• Hyphenation: be‧tich‧ten
• Rhymes: -ɪxtən

betichten

1. (transitive) to accuse

• Betichten is generally used to indicate a greater level of scepticism or contestability about the accusation than beschuldigen.
• In Belgium betichten is used as a legal term: Zij werd beticht van fraude (“She was accused of fraud”). In the Netherlands it is mainly used in more formal registers for nonlegal accusations: De polemist betichtte zijn tegenstanders van trouweloosheid (“The polemicist accused his opponents of unfaithfulness”).

• betichting