Noun: Stegreif
Gender: Masculine
Hyphenation:
Nominative
Indefinite
| Singular | ein Stegreif |
| Plural | Stegreife |
Definite
| Singular | der Stegreif |
| Plural | die Stegreife |
Genitive
Indefinite
| Singular | eines Stegreifs; Stegreifes |
| Plural | Stegreife |
Definite
| Singular | des Stegreifs; Stegreifes |
| Plural | der Stegreife |
Dative
Indefinite
| Singular | einem Stegreif; Stegreife |
| Plural | Stegreifen |
Definite
| Singular | dem Stegreif; Stegreife |
| Plural | den Stegreifen |
Accusative
Indefinite
| Singular | einen Stegreif |
| Plural | Stegreife |
Definite
| Singular | den Stegreif |
| Plural | die Stegreife |
Sample Sentences
-
aus dem Stegreif (extemporaneously)
-
Ich hatte meine Aufzeichnungen vergessen und musste mir aus dem Stegreif etwas überlegen. (I'd forgotten to take my notes and had to make something up by improvisation.)
-
Das Gedicht ist eine Stegreif-Schöpfung. (The poem is an impromptu composition.)
Nouns inflected like Stegreif
Himmelszelt,
Miniatureffekt,
Kehrdruck,
Häuptling,
Comic-Heft,
Palimpsest,
Bienenstich,
Kampfstoff,
Sandmeer,
Häusermeer,
Zwischensteg,
Offizier,
Hautschnitt,
Prinzess-Schliff,
Vierundzwanzigeck,
Stegreif,
Springinsfeld,
Internationalprozessrecht,
Erdöl,
Knacklaut, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
1. From Middle High German stegereif (“stirrup”), from Old High German stegareif (“stirrup”), from stegōn (“to ascend”, related with stīgan, whence modern steigen) + reif (“rope, ring”, whence modern Reif). Cognate with English stirrup.
2. The contemporary sense is from the idea of someone going to task “from the stirrup”, that is immediately after their arrival and without further arrangements. Speakers now often reanalyse the word as stehen (“to stand”) + greifen (“to grab”), that is “something nearby that one grabs wherever one is standing”. Hence the common pronunciation (see below) and the frequent misspelling Stehgreif. See: English Nouns '
stirrup'.
Verbs referencing "Stegreif"
English Nouns
stirrup.
Translations