Scharmützel

German

Etymology

14th century, from Middle High German scharmützel, diminutive in -el of scharmutz, from Italian scaramuccia and/or Middle French escarmuche, ultimately derived from Proto-West Germanic *skirmijan, whence German schirmen (“to protect”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ʃarˈmʏtsəl/, [ʃaʁˈmʏ.t͡sl̩], [ʃa(ɐ̯)-], [-t͡səl]
Audio (file)

Noun

Scharmützel n (strong, genitive Scharmützels, plural Scharmützel)

(military or figuratively) skirmish (small-scale battle)
Von kleineren Scharmützeln abgesehen wurde die Waffenruhe eingehalten.
Apart from minor skirmishes, the ceasefire was honoured.

Declension

Declension of Scharmützel [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Scharmützel	die	Scharmützel
genitive	eines	des	Scharmützels	der	Scharmützel
dative	einem	dem	Scharmützel	den	Scharmützeln
accusative	ein	das	Scharmützel	die	Scharmützel

Derived terms

Grenzscharmützel
scharmützeln