Schwippschwager

German

Etymology

Probably from regional schwippen (“to sway, slant”) +‎ Schwager (“brother-in-law”), thus “wry, deviating, indirect brother-in-law”. For the verb compare Schwips (“tipsiness”). Alternatively a reduplicative ablaut derivation like Mischmasch, Schnickschnack, etc., but the -pp- is more readily explained by the first-mentioned theory.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃvɪpˌʃvaːɡər/, [ˈʃʋɪpˌʃʋaː.ɡɐ]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Schwippschwager m (strong, genitive Schwippschwagers, plural Schwippschwäger or (rarely) Schwippschwager, feminine Schwippschwägerin)

1. co-brother-in-law
   1. the husband of someone's spouse's sister; (hence in the plural) those married to a group of siblings in relation to each other
   2. the brother of someone's sibling's spouse; (hence in the plural) the siblings of a married couple in relation to each other

Declension

Declension of Schwippschwager [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Schwippschwager	die	Schwippschwäger, Schwippschwager1
genitive	eines	des	Schwippschwagers	der	Schwippschwäger, Schwippschwager1
dative	einem	dem	Schwippschwager	den	Schwippschwägern, Schwippschwagern1
accusative	einen	den	Schwippschwager	die	Schwippschwäger, Schwippschwager1

¹Rare.

Synonyms

• Schwiegerschwager (Austria)

Further reading

• “Schwippschwager” in Duden online