lügen

From Middle High German liegen, from Old High German liogan, from Proto-Germanic *leuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ-. The expected form is early modern German liegen; that with -ü- has been standardized to avoid homophony with unrelated liegen (“to lie, be in a horizontal position”). The vowel is due, on one hand, to irregular rounding after l-, which is common in some dialects, and on the other hand to the inherited 2nd and 3rd person-singular present forms (in non-diphthongizing dialects such as Alemannic German). The form was also reinforced by the nouns Lug and Lüge. Compare Low German legen, lögen, Dutch liegen, English lie, Danish lyve, Swedish ljuga.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlyːɡən/, [ˈlyːɡən], [ˈlyːɡŋ̩]

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lügen (class 2 strong, third-person singular simple present lügt, past tense log, past participle gelogen, past subjunctive löge, auxiliary haben)

1. (intransitive) to tell a lie; to lie (to intentionally give false information)
2. (intransitive, less often) to give false information (unintentionally)

   Wie alt sind Sie? — Ehm... lassen Sie mich nicht lügen... Zweiunddreißig.

   How old are you? — Er... don’t let me tell you something wrong... Thirty-two.

• anlügen
• belügen
• erlügen
• vorlügen

• Lüge
• Lügner
• lügnerisch

• lügen in Duden online