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abpassen

(ab verb)
Word type: ab verb
Based on: passen
Perfect (spoken past): hat abgepasst
Preterite (written past): passte ab

Meanings

1.
to catch, to get (through good timing)
(Colloquial word for the idea of timing yourself so you catch something or meet someone. Like... your friend is always having coffee at that coffee place at around 11 and you "catch" them there. Always needs a direct object (in Accusative))
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Vocab:

passen, reinpassen, raufpassen, anpassen, die Anpassung, aufpassen, passieren


Word Family

Root: *pete-

The original sense of the root was:

spreading, expanding

The most influential branch is probably the one around “pass” which is based on the idea of extending your leg to make a step. But there are other offspring as well.

Here’s an overview over the various English members of that family:

  • pass (Originally: “taking a step”,  also to take a measure, so there’s a sense of the “expanse” in it)
  • passage, passenger, passport
  • expand, expansive (The root combined with the “ex”-prefix which here expresses “outward”)
  • patent (Originally: “lying open” for an “open letter”)
  • fathom (Originally a measure done by stretching out the arms, then shifted toward embracing, grasping)
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