petzen

See also: Petzen

German

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈpɛt͡sn̩/
  • Audio(file)
  • Hyphenation: pet‧zen

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Attested since the end of the 18th century, emerged in Halle, Germany, spread to all major German university cities by mid-19th century. Perhaps from Rotwelsch Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value), pezetten (“to report to the police, to betray”), from Yiddish [script needed] (Pezet), [script needed] (Peizaddik, “police”), from [script needed] (pe, “p (letter name)”) + [script needed] (zadik, “z (letter name)”) ("pz" for Polizei). Alternatively from Petze (“she-dog”), hence also the agent noun Petze (“tattler”).

Verb

petzen (weak, third-person singular present petzt, past tense petzte, past participle gepetzt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive, intransitive, derogatory, pupil slang) to tattle, snitch
Conjugation

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Variant of pfetzen, from Middle High German pfetzen, of uncertain ultimate origin, but compare the origin of English pinch.[1]

Verb

petzen (weak, third-person singular present petzt, past tense petzte, past participle gepetzt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (regional) Alternative form of pfetzen (“to pinch, squeeze”)
Conjugation

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Derived terms

References
  1. 1889–91, “pinch”, in William Dwight Whitney, editor, The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC:

Further reading
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