German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German spicken, from Middle Low German specken, analyzable as Speck + -en. The meaning “cheat at an exam” was possibly influenced by spähen (to peek, spy).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈʃpɪkn̩]
  • Hyphenation: spi‧cken
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

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spicken (weak, third-person singular present spickt, past tense spickte, past participle gespickt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive, cooking) to stuff meat with bacon, to lard
  2. (transitive, figurative) to adorn something profusely
    Dieser Text ist mit Zitaten gespickt
    This text is rich with quotes
  3. (transitive, colloquial) to cheat (on schoolwork) by copying
  4. (transitive, colloquial) to bribe

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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