piefe
Central Franconian edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From northern Old High German *pīfan, from Proto-Germanic *pīpaną.
The sense “to sulk” is not in the Rheinisches Wörterbuch (vol. 6 = 1944) and would thus seem to be fairly young. It can be derived from “to wheeze”, perhaps also from the notion of someone sulkily whiffing away on their pipe. Moreover the RhWb mentions the expression hüle en piefe for wailing, lamenting.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
piefe (third-person singular present pief, past participle jepeffe)