Kieme

See also: kieme

German

Etymology

16th century, from Middle Low German kime, kimme. This is most plausibly an alteration of kiwe (“jawbone, gill”) after unrelated kimme (“slit, groove”), whence also German Kimme. The former pertains to kauen (“to chew”) and is cognate with Middle High German kiwe (“jawbone, gill”), Dutch kieuw (“gill”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkiːmə/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Kieme f (genitive Kieme, plural Kiemen)

1. (usually in the plural) gill (fish organ)
   • 1995, “Laichzeit”, performed by Rammstein:

     Die Kiemen blutig noch vom Saugen an den roten großen Augen

     The gills still bloody from sucking on the big red eyes

Declension

Declension of Kieme [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Kieme	die	Kiemen
genitive	einer	der	Kieme	der	Kiemen
dative	einer	der	Kieme	den	Kiemen
accusative	eine	die	Kieme	die	Kiemen

Further reading

• “Kieme” in Duden online
• “Kieme” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Kieme” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.