gammeln.
To become old; to rot.
Meaning & usage
To become old; to rot.
Das Brot von letzter Woche gammelt im Schrank.
Where this word comes from
Borrowed from German Low German and Middle Low German gamelen, from Old Saxon *gamal (attested in the past participle gigamalōd), from Proto-Germanic *gamalaz (“weak, old”). Cognate to Old English gamolian. The verb pertains to an adjective meaning “old” attested in Middle Dutch gamel, Old English gamol, Old Norse gamall (whence forms in all modern Scandinavian languages).
To bum around; to do nothing productive; to be idle; to live the life of a hobo.
Nach der Schule hab ich zwei Jahre nur gegammelt.
Where this word comes from
Originally a southern German dialect word. Derived from Middle High German gamel, variant of gamen (“amusement”), from Old High German gaman, from Proto-West Germanic *gaman. Related to English game.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.