See also: Fesseln

German edit

Etymology edit

From Middle High German veʒʒeren, from Old High German feʒʒarōn.[1]

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): [ˈfɛsl̩n], [ˈfɛsəln]
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: fes‧seln

Verb edit

fesseln (weak, third-person singular present fesselt, past tense fesselte, past participle gefesselt, auxiliary haben)

  1. to chain, to bind
    Er fesselte ihn an den Händen.
    He tied his hands.
    Er fesselte ihn an den Stuhl.
    He tied him to the chair.
  2. to rivet (someone's attention), to captivate

Usage notes edit

  • When a person's body parts (e.g. hands or feet) are tied together 'an' takes the dative.
  • When a person is tied to another object or being 'an' most commonly takes the accusative.

Conjugation edit

Derived terms edit

References edit

  1. ^ Wolfgang Pfeifer, editor (1993), “fesseln”, in Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (in German), 2nd edition, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, →ISBN

Further reading edit

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