amper

Signification (Anglais)

Adv

scarcely, barely

Adj

sour

Concepts

à peine

ne … guère

concise

difficilement

guère

ne ... guère

tout juste

Coupé comme

am‧per

Prononcé comme (IPA)

/ˈɑmpər/

Étymologie (Anglais)

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.

Phrases

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

Il pouvait à peine contribuer à la construction de sa nouvelle maison.

Blijkbaar betaal je amper belasting in Monaco .

Apparemment, vous payez à peine l'impôt à Monaco.