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Definition 2024


bersten

bersten

German

Etymology

Middle High German bresten, from Old High German brestan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną. The modern form is from Middle Low German with metathesis of -r- from Old Saxon brestan (compare Bernstein, Born). Cognate with Dutch barsten, English burst, Old Norse bresta (whence Danish briste, Norwegian Bokmål briste and Swedish brista).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbɛʁstən/, [ˈbɛʁstən], [ˈbɛɐ̯-], [-stn̩]

Verb

bersten (class 3 strong, third-person singular simple present birst, past tense barst, past participle geborsten, past subjunctive bärste, auxiliary sein)

  1. (intransitive, chiefly literary) to burst

Usage notes

  • The more general word is platzen.
  • Bersten has a somewhat irregular 2nd person singular du birst, to avoid the regular but unpronounceable *birstst.

Conjugation


Middle Dutch

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Dutch *brestan, from Proto-Germanic *brestaną.

Verb

bersten

  1. to burst, to break apart
  2. to come forth, to arise

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants