amper

Betekenis (Engels)

Adv

scarcely, barely

Adj

sour

Koppelteken as

am‧per

Uitgespreek as (IPA)

/ˈɑmpər/

Etimologie (Engels)

Inconclusive. Whilst its current definition was long thought to have come from Indonesian hampir due to its exclusive presence in Dutch (and no other Germanic language), this would not explain its high and almost universal usage in Flemish. More likely would be if it originated on Dutch soil. In that case, the meaning would have changed somewhat from the earlier Middle Dutch amper (“sour”) – compare the semantic development of German sehr (“very”), Alemannic German rüüdig (“very”). This word, in turn, is Germanic, and a cognate to the Swedish amper, German Ampfer.

Sinne

Hij kon amper iets bijdragen aan de bouw van zijn nieuwe woning .

He could hardly contribute anything to the construction of his new home.

Blijkbaar betaal je amper belasting in Monaco .

Apparently, you barely pay taxes in Monaco.