bleichen

German

Etymology

From a merger of Middle High German bleichen, from Old High German bleihhen, from Proto-West Germanic *blaikijan, from Proto-Germanic *blaikijaną, and Middle High German blīchen, from Old High German blīhhan, from Proto-West Germanic *blīkan, from Proto-Germanic *blīkaną. Related to bleich. Cognate with Dutch bleken and blijken, English bleach and blike, Danish blege.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblaɪ̯çən/

• Audio

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Verb

bleichen (weak or class 1 strong, third-person singular present bleicht, past tense bleichte or (rare) blich, past participle gebleicht or (rare) geblichen, auxiliary haben or sein)

1. (transitive) to bleach
2. (intransitive, rather rare) to fade, to lose colour

Usage notes

• When transitive (meaning “to bleach”), bleichen is originally and predominantly weak (bleichte, gebleicht). Strong forms (blich, geblichen) are very rare in the simplex, but they are commonly seen in transitive compounds like ausbleichen: Die Sonne hat die Wand ausgeblichen / ausgebleicht. (“The sun has bleached out the wall.”)
• When intransitive (meaning “to fade”), bleichen is almost exclusively strong. Intransitive use, however, is per se rare in the simplex and occurs chiefly in compounds like erbleichen, verbleichen, etc.
• As a fallible rule of thumb, therefore, one can say that the simplex bleichen will be weak while compounds will be strong.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• Gebleiche

Related terms

• abbleichen
• bleich
• erbleichen
• überbleichen
• verbleichen

Further reading

• “bleichen” in Duden online
• “bleichen” in Duden online
• “bleichen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “bleichen” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.