beugen

• IPA^(key): /ˈbøː.ɣə(n)/

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• Hyphenation: beu‧gen
• Rhymes: -øːɣən

From beug +‎ -en.

beugen

1. (intransitive) to fish with a longline

• beuger

See the etymology of the main entry.

beugen

1. Plural form of beug

From Middle High German böugen, from Old High German bougen, from Proto-Germanic *baugijaną. In early modern German, almost fully merged with related biegen, which used to have the strong 2nd and 3rd persons singular du beugst, er beugt (compare similar archaic forms like du fleugst from fliegen). The later grammarians tried to distinguish the verbs again, though often in ways different from the (still vague) distinction that has now established itself.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔʏ̯ɡən/

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  (file)

beugen (third-person singular simple present beugt, past tense beugte, past participle gebeugt, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to bend something, to bow something

   das Knie beugen ― to bend one’s knee

   das Recht beugen ― to bend the law

2. (reflexive) to bend; to bend over; to bow

   Er beugt sich, um durch die Luke zu passen.

   He bends over to pass through the hatch.

3. (reflexive, with dative, figuratively) to give in to; to cease to resist or disagree

   Er musste sich der Mehrheit beugen.

   He had to give in to the majority.

4. (transitive, grammar) to inflect; to decline, conjugate, etc.

   Fast alle deutschen Maskulina auf -e werden schwach gebeugt.

   Virtually all German masculines in -e are inflected according to the weak declension.

• The normal word for “to bend something” is biegen. Beugen is often used instead with body parts and in figurative senses.
• Reflexively, sich beugen is used of people meaning a slight bending of the body (see the example above). Sich biegen will only be used for more unusual ways of bending like those of a contortionist. With things, conversely, sich beugen is rare; it then typically means a slight bending due to gravity or weight.
• Sich beugen can also mean “to bow out of respect” and “to stoop down”, but the former is more commonly sich verbeugen, and the latter sich bücken.

• Beugen
• Beugung
• verbeugen

• biegen
• krümmen
• bücken

• beugen in Duden online