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sühnen. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
sühnen, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
sühnen in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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German
Etymology
From Middle High German süenen, suonen (“to reconcile, balance”), from Old High German suonen (“to judge, bring about compensation”), synchronically analyzed as Sühne (“atonement”) + -n (“verbal suffix”) (DWDS).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key):
- Hyphenation: süh‧nen
Verb
sühnen (weak, third-person singular present sühnt, past tense sühnte, past participle gesühnt, auxiliary haben)
- (literary) to atone
- 1943, White Rose, 6th leaflet
Der deutsche Name bleibt für immer geschändet, wenn nicht die deutsche Jugend endlich aufsteht, rächt und sühnt zugleich, seine Peiniger zerschmettert und ein neues, geistiges Europa errichtet.- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
The German name remains forever shameful if the German youth is not at last to rise up, to avenge itself and at the same time to atone; to shatter its torturers and to build a new, spiritual Europe.
Conjugation
Conjugation of
sühnen (
weak, auxiliary
haben)
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Composed forms of
sühnen (
weak, auxiliary
haben)
Further reading
- “sühnen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “sühnen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “sühnen” in Duden online