petzen

Meaning

to tattle, snitch

Frequency

34k
Dialects

Aargau

Aargau

rätsche

Aargau

Aargau

täfele

Data provided by: Deutsch-Schweizerdeutsches Wörterbuch

Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈpɛt͡sn̩/
Etymology

In summary

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”).

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