Feminine

Nudel

Meaning

Concepts

Synonyms

Translations

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(feminine) a noodle, a string or lump of pasta
(feminine, in-plural) pasta
(feminine, in-compounds) certain other kinds of pastries
(feminine, informal) a person, usually female, who is funny and cheerful, especially when also having a pleasantly plump, buxom figure

Frequency

Basel-Landschaft

nuudle

Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈnuːdəl/

Cognate with West Flemish

Cognate with Dutch

Borrowed from Ladin

In summary

Attested since 16th century, further origin unknown. Perhaps from a variant of Knödel, such as Silesian East Central German Knudel. The unusual loss of k- is apparently attested in West Flemish noedel (“dumpling”). If already Middle Dutch, such a dialectal form might have been brought to eastern Germany by Flemish settlers. (Standard Dutch noedel stems from the German.) An alternative theory derives it from Ladin menudli (“small piece of dough found in soup”), from Latin minutulus, diminutive of minūtus (“diminished, diminutive, lessened”). Compare with Latin nodulus, from nōdus (“a knot; knob; bond”) + -ulus, a reference to weaved dough.