friemeln

• pfriemeln (less common; unetymological)

20th century, from Low German and Central Franconian dialects. Cognate to Dutch friemelen (“to fiddle, fidget”). Probably the same as Dutch and Middle Dutch wriemelen (“to move back and forth”, intransitive and transitive), Low German wrimen (“to rub”), with a development from wr- to fr-, which is widespread among dialects of all the relevant languages. Philippa (Etymologisch Woordenboek, 2003-09) casts doubt on this because wriemelen also means “to swarm” (of a collective). This collective sense need not be the oldest, however. In fact, the first attestation has the sense “to move back and forth with exertion” (of a man during sexual intercourse), and the sense “to fiddle, fidget” is attested for the wr-form as well. Philippa prefers to derive friemelen from frommelen (“to fidget”) and this in turn from fommelen (German fummeln). However, frommelen shows variants with wr- as well and is also regionally more restricted.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfriːməln/, [ˈfʁiːml̩n]

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friemeln (weak, third-person singular present friemelt, past tense friemelte, past participle gefriemelt, auxiliary haben)

1. to fiddle; to move something in one's hands, especially by rubbing it between thumb and forefinger

   Er friemelte nervös an seinem Ohrläppchen. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Sie friemelt immer mit den herumliegenden Stoffresten. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. (by extension) to do delicate manual tasks, such as inserting a thread through the eye of a needle or undoing a tangle, implying either laboriousness of the task or clumsiness of them who do it

   Ich musste ganz schön friemeln, um das auseinanderzukriegen. ― (please add an English translation of this usage example)

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• auseinanderfriemeln
• Friemelei
• herumfriemeln
• reinfriemeln

• “friemeln” in Duden online