German

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Etymology

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Borrowed from German Low German. The form is a variation of Middle Low German ampeln (to make inept movements in order to reach something), probably under the influence of cognate forms of humpeln (to hobble) and/or hüpfen (to hop).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈhampəln/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ham‧peln

Verb

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hampeln (weak, third-person singular present hampelt, past tense hampelte, past participle gehampelt, auxiliary haben or sein)

  1. to jump about
  2. to fidget

Usage notes

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  • The auxiliary sein is used if someone is moving in a direction in a fidgeting way, otherwise the auxiliary haben is used.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • hampeln” in Duden online
  • hampeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache