German

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Etymology

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18th century, borrowed from Low German verheddern, derived from Middle Low German hêde (tow, hards), from Proto-West Germanic *heʀdā. By surface analysis, ver- +‎ Hede +‎ -ern. The shortened vowel is due to the influence of -er- (as in Mutter and various other words).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /feʁˈhɛdəʁn/, [fɐˈhɛ.dɐn], [fɛɐ̯-]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ver‧hed‧dern

Verb

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verheddern (weak, third-person singular present verheddert, past tense verhedderte, past participle verheddert, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive, rare) to entangle something
    Synonyms: verwickeln, verstricken
  2. (reflexive) to become entangled
    Synonyms: sich verfangen, sich verwickeln, sich verstricken
  3. (reflexive, figuratively) to get stuck, confused (especially in speech), to get into a muddle
    Synonym: sich verhaspeln

Conjugation

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Further reading

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