piekfein
German
editEtymology
editFrom Low German püükfien, tautological compound of püük + fien, both roughly “excellent, fine, clean, honest”.
The former is a borrowing from Dutch puik, from Middle Dutch puuc, from Old Dutch *puiken, from Proto-West Germanic *pūka, *pūga, from Pre-Germanic *pūkk, of uncertain origin, possibly Proto-Indo-European *buk-, *bu-, *beu- (“to blow, swell”), assuming an original sense of "bag made from skin."[1][2] The latter is from Old French fin, cognate with German fein, English fine.
Pronunciation
editAdjective
editpiekfein (strong nominative masculine singular piekfeiner, not comparable)
- (informal, often mildly derogatory, otherwise dated) posh; fancy
- Hau! Du siehst ja piekfein aus!
- Wow! You’re looking posh! (dated)
- Die haben uns da in ein piekfeines Restaurant eingeladen.
- They invited us to a mighty fancy restaurant. (somewhat impressed, but also dismissive)
Declension
editPositive forms of piekfein (uncomparable)
Related terms
editDescendants
edit- → Dutch: piekfijn
References
edit- ^ Guus Kroonen (2013) “puka”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)[1], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 400
- ^ Kroonen, G. (2009). Consonant and Vowel Gradation in the Proto-Germanic n-Stems. PhD dissertation, University of Leiden, p. 126-127
Categories:
- German terms derived from Low German
- German terms derived from Dutch
- German terms derived from Middle Dutch
- German terms derived from Old Dutch
- German terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- German terms derived from Old French
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German lemmas
- German adjectives
- German uncomparable adjectives
- German informal terms
- German derogatory terms
- German dated terms
- German terms with usage examples