petzen

Mane (Îngilîzî)

to tattle, snitch

Pircarînî

Binavkirî wek

pet‧zen

Wekî (IPA) tê gotin

/ˈpɛt͡sn̩/

Uncertain. Attested since the end of the 18th century, emerged in Halle, Germany, spread to all major German university cities by mid-19th century. Perhaps from Rotwelsch petzen, pezetten (“to report to the police, to betray”), from Yiddish [script needed] (Pezet), [script needed] (Peizaddik, “police”), from [script needed] (pe, “p (letter name)”) + [script needed] (zadik, “z (letter name)”) ("pz" for Polizei). Alternatively from Petze (“she-dog”), hence also the agent noun Petze (“tattler”).