Dictionary › verb › er verb › *u̯eig- › wischen › erwischen

erwischen

(er verb)
Word type: er verb
Based on: wischen
Perfect (spoken past): hat erwischt
Preterite (written past): erwischte

Meanings

1.
to catch
(The focus is on "not missing" rather than actual catching. Can be someone actually fleeing, but also a bus or a person in a bad mood.)
How useful:
Opposite (closest): entwischen

Examples

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My Articles

Word of the Day - "wischen"

A fun look at the German verb "wischen" and its sometimes not so obvious prefix versions. Also, we'll learn the proper word for wiping one's butt and listen to classical music.

Vocab:

wischen, verwischen, erwischen, entwischen, jemandem eins auswischen


Word of the Day - "fangen"

The difference between "anfangen" and "beginnen". Preceeded by a lot of cool info about "fangen" and its prefix versions and what WIFI has to do with girth.

Vocab:

fangen, der Fänger, das Gefängnis, auffangen, einfangen, abfangen, empfangen, der Empfang, anfangen, der Anfang, beginnen


Word Family

Root: *u̯eig-

This is one of the roots that was about:

bending, winding (also: changing)

It doesn’t have too many offspring in English, but certainly some surprisingly ones.
Here’s a little (incomplete) overview:

  • wicker (“winding tree”)
  • vice- (“taking the place of”)
  • weak (“easy to bend”)
  • week (“the change of times”)
  • vice versa (“change to the counter as well”)
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