German

Noun

Scheiden

1. plural of Scheide

Dutch

Verb

scheiden

1. (transitive) to separate
2. (intransitive) to divorce

Inflection

Derived terms

• scheiding
• afscheiden
• onderscheiden
• uitscheiden
• scheikunde
• scheidbaar

German

Etymology

From Old High German sceidan, from Proto-Germanic *skaiþaną (whence also Dutch scheiden, West Frisian skiede, English shed), from Proto-Indo-European *skēi-t-, from *skeh₁i-d 'to cut', *skey- (whence also Welsh chwydu 'to break open', Lithuanian skíesti 'to separate', Old Church Slavonic чѣдити ‎(čĕditi) 'to filter, strain', Ancient Greek σχίζω ‎(skhízō, “to split”), Old Armenian ցտեմ ‎(cʿtem, “to scratch”), Sanskrit च्यति ‎(chyáti) 'he cuts off').

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃaɪ̯dən/, [ˈʃaɪ̯dən], [ˈʃaɪ̯dn̩]

Verb

scheiden ‎(class 1 strong, third-person singular simple present scheidet, past tense schied, past participle geschieden, past subjunctive schiede, auxiliary haben or sein)

1. (transitive, dated, literary) to separate
2. (intransitive or reflexive, dated, literary) to leave one another; to part; to be separated; to be divided
3. (transitive) to dissolve (a marriage); to divorce (a couple)

   Der Richter weigerte sich, die Ehe zu scheiden. — “The judge refused to dissolve the marriage.”

4. (transitive, with lassen) to have (a marriage) dissolved

   Sie wollen ihre Ehe scheiden lassen. — “They want to dissolve their marriage.”

5. (reflexive, with lassen) to divorce (one's spouse); to get a divorce (from one's spouse)

   Meine Frau will sich von mir scheiden lassen. — “My wife wants to divorce me.”

Usage notes

• The perfect auxiliary is haben in transitive and reflexive uses, and always in constructions with lassen. In intransitive uses, the auxiliary is sein, but such instances are rare in contemporary German. Note that in a phrase like Sie ist geschieden (“She's divorced”), the verb sein is the copula, not the perfect auxiliary.
• The present participle scheidend has an idiomatic sense “retiring, resigning, about to be replaced”: der scheidende Vorstandsvorsitzende — “the retiring CEO”.

Conjugation

Derived terms

• ausscheiden
• unterscheiden
• verscheiden