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)

Synonyms

die Unwahrheit sagen

falsch spielen

abgaunern

bemogeln

anschwindeln

puchen

wie die Katze um den heißen Brei schleichen

anschummeln

Blaue vom Himmel herunterlügen

anmogeln

cheaten

Ausflüchte machen

beschummeln

sich verstellen

zweideutig reden

gemein handeln

Lügen erzählen

Frequency

A2
Dialects

Zürich

Zürich

lüge

Aargau

Aargau

lüge

Bern

Bern

lüge

St. Gallen

St. Gallen

lüge

Zug

Zug

lüge

Solothurn

Solothurn

lüge

Zürich

Zürich

lügä

Basel-Stadt

Basel-Stadt

liege

Bern

Bern

lügä

Lucerne

Lucerne

lüge

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

liege

Zürich

Zürich

lüüge

Thurgau

Thurgau

lüge

Thurgau

Thurgau

lügä

Graubünden

Graubünden

lüga

St. Gallen

St. Gallen

lüüge

Schwyz

Schwyz

lüge

Thurgau

Thurgau

lüüge

Valais

Valais

leigu

Zug

Zug

lüüge

Zürich

Zürich

lühe

Aargau

Aargau

lügä

Aargau

Aargau

liege

Aargau

Aargau

lüegä

Appenzell Innerrhoden

Appenzell Innerrhoden

lööge

Bern

Bern

lüüge

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

lüege

Basel-Landschaft

Basel-Landschaft

lüüge

Basel-Stadt

Basel-Stadt

liegä

Fribourg

Fribourg

lüge

Lucerne

Lucerne

lüüge

Obwalden

Obwalden

liigä

Obwalden

Obwalden

ligä

St. Gallen

St. Gallen

lüüga

St. Gallen

St. Gallen

lüga

Schaffhausen

Schaffhausen

lügä

Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch

Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈlyːɡən/
Etymology

In summary

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).

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