pflücken

German

Etymology

From Middle High German pflocken, pflucken, pflücken, from Old High German phlockōn, *phlucken, from Proto-Germanic *plukkōną, likely from Vulgar Latin *pilūc(i)cāre, derived ultimately from Latin pilāre (“remove hair”). Compare Luxembourgish plécken, Hunsrik plicke, Rhine Franconian plicke, plocke, Dutch plukken, English pluck, French éplucher, Italian piluccare. Within High German the word was restricted to Central German and northernmost Upper German.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpflʏkən/, , (standard)

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈflʏkən/ (most northern and central German speakers)

Verb

pflücken (weak, third-person singular present pflückt, past tense pflückte, past participle gepflückt, auxiliary haben)

1. to pick (fruit, flowers, cotton, etc.)
   • 1918, Elisabeth von Heyking, Die Orgelpfeifen, in: Zwei Erzählungen, Phillipp Reclam jun. Verlag, page 31:

     So wurden im Garten noch die letzten Stachelbeeren und Himbeeren, wurden schon frühe Pflaumen und Pfirsiche gepflückt; in der Küche weckte Mamsell das viele Obst und Gemüse in unzähligen Gläsern ein; […]

     So even the last gooseberries and raspberries and already early plums and peaches were picked in the garden; in the kitchen the housekeeper canned all this large amount of fruits and vegetables in countless jars;

Conjugation

Derived terms

• abpflücken
• herauspflücken
• herunterpflücken
• wegpflücken

References

Further reading

• “pflücken” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “pflücken” in Duden online
• “pflücken” in OpenThesaurus.de