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melken

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch melken, from Old Dutch *melkan, from Proto-West Germanic *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛlkə(n)/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: mel‧ken
  • Rhymes: -ɛlkən

Verb

melken

  1. (transitive) to milk a (farm) animal
  2. (intransitive) to play meekly, without risk, notably in duel ball sports like tennis

Conjugation

More information Conjugation of (strong class 3b), infinitive ...
More information Conjugation of (weak), infinitive ...

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Afrikaans: melk
  • Jersey Dutch: määlke

Further reading

  • “melken” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]
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German

Etymology 1

From Middle High German mëlken, from Old High German melchan, from Proto-West Germanic *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.

The consonantism -lk- is regular High German. The difference between melken and Milch is due to the fact that the latter used to have a short vowel after -l- (Old High German miluh). Compare Dutch melken, English milk, Danish malke, Norwegian mjølke.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛlkən/, [ˈmɛlkən], [ˈmɛlkŋ̩]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: mel‧ken

Verb

melken (class 3 strong or weak, third-person singular present milkt or melkt, past tense molk or melkte, past participle gemolken or (rare) gemelkt, past subjunctive mölke or melkte, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to milk (a cow, goat etc.)
  2. (transitive, figuratively) to drain; to draw from (someone or something), especially without consent; to milk (someone) for money, information, etc.
Usage notes
  • Melken has full sets of both strong and weak forms, both being accepted as standard. The past participle gemolken is considerably more common than gemelkt. Otherwise there is possibly a tendency to prefer the strong forms in the northern half of the German Sprachraum and the weak forms in the southern half.
Conjugation
Conjugation of melken (class 3 strong or weak, auxiliary haben)
More information infinitive, present participle ...

1Rare.
2Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.

Composed forms of melken (class 3 strong or weak, auxiliary haben)
More information perfect, singular ...

1Rare.

Derived terms
Descendants
See also

Further reading

  • “melken” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • “melken” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • “melken” in Duden online
  • “melken” in OpenThesaurus.de

Etymology 2

Adjective

melken

  1. inflection of melk:
    1. strong genitive masculine/neuter singular
    2. weak/mixed genitive/dative all-gender singular
    3. strong/weak/mixed accusative masculine singular
    4. strong dative plural
    5. weak/mixed all-case plural
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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *melkan, from Proto-West Germanic *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.

Verb

melken

  1. To milk.
  2. To draw in, to pull.
  3. To lure.

Inflection

More information infinitive, base form ...

Descendants

  • Dutch: melken
  • Limburgish: mèlke

Further reading

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Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

Noun

melken m or f

  1. definite masculine singular of melk

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