German

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Etymology

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Iterative form of kuschen (to lie down) +‎ -eln, from French se coucher. The form is late in standard usage (around 1900), but widespread and significantly older in dialects.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈkʊʃəln/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ku‧scheln

Verb

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kuscheln (weak, third-person singular present kuschelt, past tense kuschelte, past participle gekuschelt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (intransitive, rarely transitive) to cuddle
    Synonyms: anschmiegen, knuddeln, schmusen, streicheln, umarmen

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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