Dictionary verb ver verb *deuk- ziehen verziehen

verziehen

(ver verb)

Meanings

1.
to twist, to warp
(For objects bending out of their normal shape. Also used for faces. Must have a direct object, so if wood bends out of shape by itself, for example, it would be "sich+Acc verziehen".)
How useful:
2.
to move away
(In the sense of apartments. Pretty much only used in the past when someone moved away without anyone knowing to where. The standard everyday word is "wegziehen".)
How useful:
3.
to go away, to piss off
("sich+Acc verziehen" - normal sounding for fog or bad weather. For people and animals, it sounds VERY colloquial.)
How useful:
Opposite (closest): antanzen

Examples

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Word Family

Root: *deuk-

The core idea of this root was:

leading, pulling

So already back then, the double theme that we have in ziehen today was present. Pulling and guiding share the idea of “giving a way from in front”.
A good leader “pulls” their followers along.

The idea of pulling can be found in English members of this family like tow, tug, tie and also team.

The far bigger group though are the words that are based on the Latin verb *ducere. This was the Latin verb for to lead and it’s the core of dozens of words like produce, conduct, educate, seduce or duke.

Here’s an incomplete list of English family members:

  • to tow (pulling)
  • to tug (pulling)
  • to tie (pulling)
  • team (originally, a line of descent, family lineage)
  • induce (“lead in”)
  • introduce, introduction (“lead into”)
  • produce, product (“lead forth”)
  • seduce, seduction,…  (“lead/pull aside”)
  • abduct, abduction,… (“lead/pull away”)
  • reduce, reduction, … (“to pull back”)
  • decude, deduction, … (“to pull from”)
  • educate, education, … (“to pull out, to bring out”)
  • conduct, conduit, … (“to lead, to bring together”)
  • the Duke  (“the leader”, based on Italian title “Duce”)
  • aqueduct (“leading water”)
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