absprechen

Word type: ab verb
Based on: sprechen

Perfect (spoken past): hat abgesprochen

Preterite (written past): sprach ab

Meanings

1.

to deny someone something

(ONLY in the sense of "denying" that they have a talent or skill. NOT for denying permission. Not very common.)

How useful:

2.

to agree on, to coordinate

(In the sense of coordinating with someone. NOT for agreeing with someone's opinion. Quite common and often used with a self reference ("sich+Acc absprechen mit"). )

How useful:

Word Family

Root: *spere-

The core idea of the root (according to English sources) was:

ankle

German sources have the meaning for focused on motion and describe it as

twitching with the foot, unrest

In German, it shifted toward a sense of tracking (by foot) and then kept going toward the sense of perceiving.

English doesn’t have many relatives – spur, spoor, spurn.
They haven’t shifted their meaning as much, so they’re still somewhat close to ankle or to a broad sense of twitching.

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