krabbeln

Meaning

1. (intransitive,weak) to crawl (typically, but not always, of a baby or insect)
2. (transitive,weak) to tickle, especially by making fast movements with all fingers of one hand

Concepts

crawl

creep

climb

scrabble

ascend

copulate

go up

mount

ride

scramble

scuttle

prowl

pussyfoot

slither

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkʁabəln/

Etymology

From Middle Low German krabbelen (“to crawl”), an iterative form of krabben (“to scrape”). Compare Dutch krabbelen and krabben. Possibly derived from Krabbe (“crab”). A strong counterargument to this, however, is the cognate krappeln in Middle High German, which did not have the noun.