schrecken.
to frighten, to scare
Meaning & usage
to frighten, to scare
to intimidate or discourage, to deter
to bark (said of roe deer)
Where this word comes from
From Middle High German schrecken, from Old High German skreckōn (“to jump”), from Proto-Germanic *skrikkōną; the ultimate origin is uncertain, possibly related to *skeraną (“to shear”) (thus "make sudden cutting movements" > "scare") or *skrīaną (“to scream”). Also compare Old Norse skaga (“to jut out”). Cognate with Dutch schrikken (“to be startled”). Danish skrække and Swedish skräcka are borrowed from German. In Middle High German, the verb was reinterpreted as a causative, whereas the intransitive sense acquired a strong inflection, cf. erschrecken.
to wake or become alert with a start or scare (as from sleep or from being deep in thought)
Where this word comes from
From Middle High German schrecken, from Old High German skreckōn (“to jump”), from Proto-Germanic *skrikkōną; the ultimate origin is uncertain, possibly related to *skeraną (“to shear”) (thus "make sudden cutting movements" > "scare") or *skrīaną (“to scream”). Also compare Old Norse skaga (“to jut out”). Cognate with Dutch schrikken (“to be startled”). Danish skrække and Swedish skräcka are borrowed from German. In Middle High German, the verb was reinterpreted as a causative, whereas the intransitive sense acquired a strong inflection, cf. erschrecken.
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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.