From Central German and German Low German dialects; derived from a group of words meaning “knob, knot”. Compare Ripuarian Central Franconian Knöddel (“knot”), Middle Dutch knodde (“knob”). These words belong to the large group of stems related with Knoten (“knot”). The original sense of the verb is “to embrace tightly”; compare English canoodle in the same sense.
knuddeln (weak, third-person singular present knuddelt, past tense knuddelte, past participle geknuddelt, auxiliary haben)
| infinitive | knuddeln | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | knuddelnd | ||||
| past participle | geknuddelt | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich knuddle ich knuddele ich knuddel |
wir knuddeln | i | ich knuddele ich knuddle |
wir knuddeln |
| du knuddelst | ihr knuddelt | du knuddelest du knuddlest |
ihr knuddelet ihr knuddlet | ||
| er knuddelt | sie knuddeln | er knuddele er knuddle |
sie knuddeln | ||
| preterite | ich knuddelte | wir knuddelten | ii | ich knuddelte1 | wir knuddelten1 |
| du knuddeltest | ihr knuddeltet | du knuddeltest1 | ihr knuddeltet1 | ||
| er knuddelte | sie knuddelten | er knuddelte1 | sie knuddelten1 | ||
| imperative | knuddle (du) knuddel (du) knuddele (du) |
knuddelt (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.