schröpfen

From Middle High German schrepfen, schreffen, from Old High German *skrepfan, from Proto-West Germanic *skrappjan (“to scrape, scratch”). Belongs to the strong verb *skrepan (Middle High German schrëffen, Old English screpan), of which it is an intensive, as is the stem variant *skrapōn, whence Middle High German schraffen and (via Middle Low German) modern schrap(p)en (“to scrape”). The various forms have influenced each other to a great extent. The ⟨ö⟩ is due to sporadic rounding of Middle High German /e/ in the vicinity of /ʃ/, /l/, and/or labials (cf. zwölf etc.).

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃrœpfən/, [ˈʃʁœ.p͡fɱ̍], [-p͡f(ə)n], [-p͡ɸm̩], [-p͡ɸ(ə)n]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Hyphenation: schröp‧fen

schröpfen (weak, third-person singular present schröpft, past tense schröpfte, past participle geschröpft, auxiliary haben) (usually transitive)

1. (historical medicine) to bleed, cup
2. (figuratively) to bleed, fleece, milk (take money from someone by exploitation or trickery)
   • 1903, Elisabeth von Heyking, Briefe, die ihn nicht erreichten, Verlag von Gebrüder Paetel, page 122:

     Nirgends wie in China hat jeder einzelne so viel Feinde, d. h. Leute, die auf ihn drücken, die etwas Schlimmes, das sie über ihn wissen, ausnutzen, um ihn zu schröpfen.

     Nowhere like in China, every single person has as many enemies, that is people, who press on him, who exploit something bad they know about him for fleecing him.

• zur Ader lassen

• “schröpfen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “schröpfen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “schröpfen” in Duden online