werfen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German wërfen, from Old High German werfan, from Proto-Germanic *werpaną. Cognate with Old Saxon werpan, Dutch werpen, English warp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛrfən/, , , , , , ,

• audio

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• audio

  (file)

Verb

werfen (class 3 strong, third-person singular present wirft, past tense warf, past participle geworfen, past subjunctive würfe, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to throw
2. (transitive, computing, exception handling) to throw

   Der Konstruktor mit dem einen Parameter wirft in diesem Falle eine Ausnahme.

   The constructor with this one parameter throws an exception in this case.

3. (transitive) to cast; to project

   einen Schatten werfen ― to cast a shadow

   ein Bild an/auf die Wand werfen ― to project an image on the wall

4. (transitive, intransitive) to give birth (of some animals)

   Die Sau wirft ihre Jungen.

   The sow is birthing her young.

5. (reflexive) to throw oneself (on a bed etc.)

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• Wurf

Further reading

• “werfen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “werfen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “werfen” in Duden online
• “werfen” in OpenThesaurus.de
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “werfen”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Luxembourgish

Alternative forms

• wierfen (dialectal)

Etymology

From Middle High German werfen, from Old High German werfan, from Proto-Germanic *werpaną.

While the verb as such is probably inherited, the form seems to have undergone an irregular development, perhaps under influence of German werfen; the regular development is found in dialectal wierfen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈværfen/,

Verb

werfen (third-person singular present wërft, past participle geworf, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (intransitive, transitive) to throw; to toss
2. (transitive) to cast; to throw (a glance, look, etc.)

   e Bléck werfen ― to cast a glance; to take a look

3. (reflexive) to throw oneself

Conjugation

Synonyms

• geheien

Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German werfan, from Proto-Germanic *werpaną. Akin to Old Saxon werpan, Dutch werpen, Old English weorpan.

Verb

wërfen (class 3 strong, third-person singular present wirfet, past tense warf, past participle geworfen, past subjunctive würfe, auxiliary hân)

1. to throw

Conjugation

Descendants

• Central Franconian: werpe, werfe
• German: werfen
  • → Danish: verfe
• Luxembourgish: werfen
• Yiddish: וואַרפֿן (varfn)

References

• Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Müller, Wilhelm, Zarncke, Friedrich (1863) “wërfen”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke‎, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel