amper

Meaning

Adv

scarcely, barely

Adj

sour

Concepts

scarcely

hardly

barely

remotely

uneath

only just

less

at a premium

harshly

scarce

Hyphenated as

am‧per

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈɑmpər/

Etymology

Inconclusive. Whilst its current definition was long thought to have come from Indonesian hampir due to its exclusive presence in Dutch (and no other Germanic language), this would not explain its high and almost universal usage in Flemish. More likely would be if it originated on Dutch soil. In that case, the meaning would have changed somewhat from the earlier Middle Dutch amper (“sour”) – compare the semantic development of German sehr (“very”), Alemannic German rüüdig (“very”). This word, in turn, is Germanic, and a cognate to the Swedish amper, German Ampfer.

Sentences

Hij kon amper iets bijdragen aan de bouw van zijn nieuwe woning .

He could hardly contribute anything to the construction of his new home.

Blijkbaar betaal je amper belasting in Monaco .

Apparently, you barely pay taxes in Monaco.