From Middle High German schrecken, from Old High German skreckōn (“to jump”), from Proto-Germanic *skrikkōną; the ultimate origin is uncertain, possibly related to *skeraną (“to shear”) (thus "make sudden cutting movements" > "scare") or *skrīaną (“to scream”).^[1] Also compare Old Norse skaga (“to jut out”).

Cognate with Dutch schrikken (“to be startled”). Danish skrække and Swedish skräcka are borrowed from German. In Middle High German, the verb was reinterpreted as a causative, whereas the intransitive sense acquired a strong inflection, cf. erschrecken.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃʁɛkən/, [ˈʃʁɛkŋ̍]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

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• Hyphenation: schre‧cken; pre-1996: schrek‧ken

schrecken (weak, third-person singular present schreckt, past tense schreckte, past participle geschreckt, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to frighten, to scare
2. (transitive) to intimidate or discourage, to deter
3. (transitive) to bark (said of roe deer)

   Synonym: bellen

• erschrecken, verschrecken
• schrecklich
• Schrecknis

• Schrecken
• abschrecken, aufschrecken, hochschrecken,
• zurückschrecken, zusammenschrecken

schrecken (class 4 strong, third-person singular present schrickt, past tense schrak, past participle geschrocken, past subjunctive schräke, auxiliary sein)

1. (intransitive) to wake or become alert with a start or scare (as from sleep or from being deep in thought)

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