German edit

Etymology edit

20th century, from ver- +‎ graulen (“to be scared”, rare or regional). The latter is from earlier graueln, a variant of (also rare) gräueln, from Middle High German griuweln, grūweln, whence the noun Gräuel (horror). The form with -ūw- (modern -au-) probably shows the same Central German development as in brauen, kauen. The change from -eln to -len is unremarkable (in fact, many speakers merge these entirely).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ferˈɡraʊ̯lən/, [fɐˈɡʁaʊ̯.lən], [fɛɐ̯-], [-ˈɡʁaʊ̯.l̩n]
  • (file)

Verb edit

vergraulen (weak, third-person singular present vergrault, past tense vergraulte, past participle vergrault, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to put off, drive off, scare off (cause someone to lose interest, e.g. through unfriendliness)
    Synonyms: vergrätzen, vertreiben
  2. (transitive, less common) to spoil something for someone (make them lose interest in)
    Synonyms: verleiden, trüben, (informal) madig machen, versauen

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit