verwirren

From Middle High German verwirren, alteration (perhaps after irren (“to err, be lost”)) of older verwerren, from Old High German firwerran, a strong verb related with Old High German werra (“controversy, complication”); compare English war. Analysable as ver- +‎ wirr (“confused”) +‎ -en, though the adjective is historically a backformation from the verb. Cognate with Dutch verwarren.

• IPA^(key): /fərˈvɪ.rən/, /fɛr-/, [fɐˈvɪʁən], [fɛɐ̯-], [-ˈʋɪ-], [-ʁn̩], [-ʁɴ̩], [-ˈvɪɐ̯n], [-ˈʋɪɐ̯n]

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• Hyphenation: ver‧wir‧ren

verwirren (weak or class 3 strong, third-person singular present verwirrt, past tense verwirrte or (archaic, rare) verworr, past participle verwirrt or verworren, auxiliary haben)

1. to confuse

• This verb is generally weak. The strong preterite verworr is archaic or poetic (and even then very rare). The past participle verworren remains current, but is now widely restricted to adjectival use. For the latter, there is also a semantic restriction inasmuch as verworren means “confused, tangled” of things or ideas, whereas only verwirrt is used of people (or their minds).

• Verwirren, Verwirrer, Verwirrung
• verwirrend, verwirrt

• Guerilla

• “verwirren” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “verwirren” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “verwirren” in Duden online
• “verwirren” in OpenThesaurus.de