riffeln

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German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German riffeln, rifilen, from Old High German riffilōn (to ripple, remove seeds from flax), derived from riffila (ripple), from Proto-Germanic *ripilō, which is probably related to *rīpaną (to harvest, reap). Cognate with Dutch repel, English ripple.

The sense “to cut grooves into” is from unrelated German Low German rieveln, riffeln, frequentative of Middle Low German rīven (to rake). Compare German Riefe (groove), Dutch rijf (rake), (obsolete) rijffelen (to scrape), Old Norse hrīfa (rake). These words are all rather related to Proto-Germanic *hrībaną (to rake, scratch).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈʁɪfəln/
  • Hyphenation: rif‧feln

Verb

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riffeln (weak, third-person singular present riffelt, past tense riffelte, past participle geriffelt, auxiliary haben)

  1. to groove (provide with narrow, parallel channels)
  2. to ripple (remove seeds from the stalks of flax by means of a comb)

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • riffeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • riffeln” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • riffeln” in Duden online