Fratze

German

Etymology

Shortened from Fratzengesicht (“joker face”), from fratzen (“silly talk, jokes”), probably borrowed from Italian frasche (“nonsense”), plural of frasca (“vanity, caprice”).^[1]

Cognate with Dutch fratsen.^[2]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈfʁat͡sə/
Audio: (file)

Noun

Fratze f (genitive Fratze, plural Fratzen)

sneer; grimace; evil smile

Declension

Declension of Fratze [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Fratze	die	Fratzen
genitive	einer	der	Fratze	der	Fratzen
dative	einer	der	Fratze	den	Fratzen
accusative	eine	die	Fratze	die	Fratzen

Descendants

→ Dutch: frats

Noun

Fratze

nominative/genitive/accusative plural of Fratz

References

^ “Fratze” in Duden online
^ Friedrich Kluge (1883) “Fratze”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

[1] “Fratze” in Duden online

[2] Friedrich Kluge (1883) “Fratze”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

[1]

[2]