ruien

Meaning

Concepts

to moult, to shed (of animals; lose a covering of fur, feathers or skin etc.)

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈrœy̯.ə(n)/

Inherited from Middle Dutch

Cognate with German

In summary

With regular syncope of intervocalic -d- from earlier ruiden, from Middle Dutch *ruden (attested in derived terms). Probably from Proto-West Germanic *riudijan, whence archaic German reuten (“to uproot, clear”), an ablaut variant of Proto-West Germanic *rodōn, whence Dutch rooien, German roden. Alternatively compare perhaps ruit (“mange”), regionally also rui, ruide, from Proto-Germanic *hrūþǭ, as hair loss is one of the main symptoms of mange in animals. The latter is probably related with Dutch roof (“scab”), to which compare the variant ruiven above (though the -v- can also be explained as the fortition of an epenthetic -w- in hiatus).