wappnen

German

Etymology

From Wappen, which now means only “coat of arms”, but originally also meant “weapon”. Compare bewaffnen, a native High German cognate (sans the prefix), and the dated waffnen.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈvapnən/
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)
  • Hyphenation: wapp‧nen

Verb

wappnen (weak, third-person singular present wappnet, past tense wappnete, past participle gewappnet, auxiliary haben)

  1. (reflexive) to prepare oneself, to arm oneself [with für (+ accusative) ‘for a negative situation’]
    Wir müssen uns für den Ernstfall wappnen.
    We have to prepare ourselves for the case of emergency.
  2. (archaic) to arm
    Synonym: bewaffnen

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

  • wappnen” in Duden online
  • wappnen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache