louter
Dutch edit
Etymology edit
From Middle Dutch louter, variant of luyter, lûter, lutter, from Old Dutch *lūtir, luttir, from Proto-Germanic *hlūtraz. The -ou- is probably due to influence by late Middle High German lauter, older lūter, from Old High German hlūter, from the same Germanic source. Compare modern German lauter.
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
louter (comparative louterder, superlative louterst)
- (inflected) pure
- het louterste goud ― the purest gold
- (invariable) a lot of; a bunch of
- Het zijn louter leugens. ― It’s a bunch of lies.
- Er zijn louter regels die we moeten volgen. ― There are a lot of rules we must follow.
Usage notes edit
- Sense 2 is originally a use of the adverb “purely” and is sometimes still interpretable as such. In the second example sentence, however, this is clearly not the case.
Inflection edit
Inflection of louter | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
uninflected | louter | |||
inflected | loutere | |||
comparative | louterder | |||
positive | comparative | superlative | ||
predicative/adverbial | louter | louterder | het louterst het louterste | |
indefinite | m./f. sing. | loutere | louterdere | louterste |
n. sing. | louter | louterder | louterste | |
plural | loutere | louterdere | louterste | |
definite | loutere | louterdere | louterste | |
partitive | louters | louterders | — |
Adverb edit
louter