Fratze
German
Etymology
Shortened from Fratzengesicht (“joker face”), from fratzen (“silly talk, jokes”), probably borrowed from Italian frasche (“nonsense”), plural of frasca (“vanity, caprice”).[1]
Cognate with Dutch fratsen.[2]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfʁat͡sə/
Audio (file)
Noun
Fratze f (genitive Fratze, plural Fratzen)
- sneer; grimace; evil smile
Declension
Declension of Fratze [feminine]
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | eine | die | Fratze | die | Fratzen |
| genitive | einer | der | Fratze | der | Fratzen |
| dative | einer | der | Fratze | den | Fratzen |
| accusative | eine | die | Fratze | die | Fratzen |
Descendants
- → Dutch: frats
References
- “Fratze” in Duden online
- Friedrich Kluge (1883), “Fratze”, in , John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891