Etymology

From Middle High GermanCategory:German terms inherited from Middle High German#ZERRENCategory:German terms derived from Middle High German#ZERREN zerren, from Old High GermanCategory:German terms inherited from Old High German#ZERRENCategory:German terms derived from Old High German#ZERREN zerren, from Proto-GermanicCategory:German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#ZERRENCategory:German terms derived from Proto-Germanic#ZERREN *tarjaną, and hence a doublet of German zehren, which see for the ultimate source.

The geminated -rr- is irregular and probably intensive (compare the same in Middle Low German terren, Middle Dutch terren, both alongside tēren). Compare English tear.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtsɛrən/, [ˈtsɛʁən], [-ʁn̩], [-ʁɴ̩], [tsɛɐ̯n]Category:German 2-syllable words#ZERRENCategory:German terms with IPA pronunciation#ZERREN

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

  Category:German terms with audio pronunciation#ZERREN

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:German terms with audio pronunciation#ZERREN
• Homophone: zehrenCategory:German terms with homophones#ZERREN (by the monosyllabic pronunciation)

Verb

zerren (weak, third-person singular present zerrt, past tense zerrte, past participle gezerrt, auxiliary haben)Category:German lemmas#ZERRENCategory:German verbs#ZERRENCategory:German weak verbs#ZERRENCategory:German verbs using haben as auxiliary#ZERRENCategory:German entries with incorrect language header#ZERRENCategory:Pages with entries#ZERRENCategory:Pages with 1 entry#ZERREN

1. to tug
2. to drag
3. to pull (a muscle)

Further reading

• “zerren”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎ (in German)
• “zerren” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “zerren” in Duden online
• “zerren” in OpenThesaurus.de
• Friedrich Kluge (1883), “zerren”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891