Birne

German

Etymology

From Middle High German bire, bir, from Old High German bira, pira, from Vulgar Latin pira, reanalysis of the plural of Latin pirum. Early Modern German birn is from the Middle High German plural and dative/genitive singular, whence a double plural birnen was formed. The contemporary Birne is a new backformation from this plural (perhaps influenced also by the older, still dialectal form bire). Thus, between Latin and modern German, the word was reformed on the basis of the plural three times. Cognate with Alemannic German Bire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪrnə/, [ˈbɪɐ̯nə], [ˈbɪʁnə], [ˈbɪrnə]

• Audio (Austria):

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• Audio:

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Noun

Birne f (genitive Birne, plural Birnen, diminutive Birnchen n)

1. pear
2. lightbulb
3. (colloquial) head, bonce, noggin

Declension

Declension of Birne [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Birne	die	Birnen
genitive	einer	der	Birne	der	Birnen
dative	einer	der	Birne	den	Birnen
accusative	eine	die	Birne	die	Birnen

Derived terms

• Abbruchbirne
• Abrissbirne
• birnenförmig
• Birnenkompott
• Birnenmus
• Birnensaft
• Birnenschnaps
• Birnensorte
• Butterbirne
• Erdbirne
• Glühbirne
• Grundbirne
• Kochbirne
• Leuchtbirne
• Saftbirne
• Tafelbirne
• Williamsbirne

 

Descendants

• → Estonian: pirn
• → Kashubian: birna

Further reading

• “Birne” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Birne” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Birne” in Duden online
• Birne on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de