zanken

German

Etymology

From late Middle High German zanken, of unclear origin, not having been recorded in earlier periods. Perhaps from the root of Zinke (“prong, sharp point”), if the original sense was "to be pointed."

Pronunciation

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Verb

zanken (weak, third-person singular present zankt, past tense zankte, past participle gezankt, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to dispute

   Synonym: streiten

   Antonym: versöhnen

2. (transitive, regional) to scold

   Synonym: schimpfen

   Antonym: loben

Conjugation

Derived terms

• Zanken
• Zank (“row, squabble”)
• Zänker (“quarrelsome person”)
• Zankerei (“wrangling, quarreling”)
• Zänkerei (“tiff, spat”)
• zänkisch (“quarrelsome, cantankerous”)
• auszanken (“to scold”)
• Gezänk (“squabbling, bickering”)
• Gezanke (“bickering”)
• herumzanken (“to squabble”)
• verzanken (“to fall out”)

References

Further reading

• “zanken” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “zanken” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “zanken” in Duden online
• “zanken” in OpenThesaurus.de