lügen

Meaning

1. (class-2,intransitive,strong) to tell a lie; to lie (to intentionally give false information)
2. (class-2,intransitive,strong) to give false information (unintentionally)

Concepts

lie

tell a lie

rook

belie

cheat

prevaricate

lain

speak falsely

falsify

deceive

pretend

tell lies

lying

bullshit

fib

jive

transgress

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈlyːɡən/

Etymology

From Middle High German liegen, from Old High German liogan, from Proto-West Germanic *leugan, from Proto-Germanic *leuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ-. Cognate with Bavarian liagn, Dutch liegen, Low German legen, lögen, English lie, Danish lyve, Swedish ljuga.
The expected form is Early Modern German liegen; that with -ü- has been standardized to avoid homophony with unrelated liegen (“to lie, be in a horizontal position”). The vowel was transferred from the noun Lüge, where it is original, facilitated by a phonetic merger of these vowels in some dialects. A reinforcing influence may have been the inherited 2nd and 3rd person-singular forms (from Middle High German liuges, liuget), which had /yː/ in non-diphthongising dialects (such as Alemannic German).