tief

See also: Tief

English

Noun

tief (plural tiefs or tieves)

  1. Pronunciation spelling of thief.

Verb

tief (third-person singular simple present tiefs, present participle tiefing, simple past and past participle tiefed)

  1. (dialect) To steal, to thieve.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German tief, tiuf, going back to Old High German tiuf, tiof, inherited through Proto-West Germanic *deup and ultimately deriving from Proto-Germanic *deupaz, from Pre-Germanic *dʰewbʰnós, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ-.

Compare Low German deep, Dutch diep, English deep, Danish dyb, Norwegian dyp, Icelandic djúpur.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /tiːf/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -iːf

Adjective

tief (strong nominative masculine singular tiefer, comparative tiefer, superlative am tiefsten)

  1. (also figuratively) deep
    Wie tief ist das Wasser?How deep is the water?
    Sie hat ein tiefes Verständnis der russischen Kultur.She has a deep understanding of Russian culture.
  2. low (situated close to, or below, the ground)
    Du hast das Bild zu tief gehängt.You hung the picture too low.
  3. (figuratively, Switzerland) low (small, not high in amount or quantity, value, etc.)
    Synonym: niedrig
    tiefere Abgabenlower taxes

Usage notes

German niedrig is a more generally applicable translation of English low. Tief can cover the meaning of niedrig in many contexts, but not vice versa.

Declension

Antonyms

Derived terms

Adverb

tief

  1. deeply, profoundly
  2. thoroughly, in depth

Further reading

  • tief” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • tief” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • tief” in Duden online

Old Frisian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈti̯ɛːf/

Noun

tiēf m

  1. Old West Frisian form of thiāf

References

  • Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009) An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 115
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.