# melken
## Dutch
### Etymology

From Middle Dutch melken, from Old Dutch *melkan, from Proto-West Germanic *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛlkə(n)/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: mel‧ken
* Rhymes: -ɛlkən

### Verb

melken
* (transitive) to milk a (farm) animal
* (intransitive) to play meekly, without risk, notably in duel ball sports like tennis

#### Derived terms

* afmelken
* melkapparaat
* melkbaar
* melker
* melkmachine
* ontmelken
* robotmelken
* uitmelken

#### Related terms

* melk

#### Descendants

* Afrikaans: melk
* Jersey Dutch: määlke

### Further reading

* “melken” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

## German
### Etymology 1

From Middle High German mëlken, from Old High German melchan, from Proto-West Germanic *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.
The consonantism -lk- is regular High German. The difference between melken and Milch is due to the fact that the latter used to have a short vowel after -l- (Old High German miluh). Compare Dutch melken, English milk, Danish malke, Norwegian mjølke.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛlkən/, [ˈmɛlkən], [ˈmɛlkŋ̩]
* Audio:(file)
* Audio:(file)
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: mel‧ken

#### Verb

melken (class 3 strong or weak, third-person singular present milkt or melkt, past tense molk or melkte, past participle gemolken or (rare) gemelkt, past subjunctive mölke or melkte, auxiliary haben)
* (transitive) to milk (a cow, goat etc.)
* (transitive, figuratively) to drain; to draw from (someone or something), especially without consent; to milk (someone) for money, information, etc.

##### Usage notes

* Melken has full sets of both strong and weak forms, both being accepted as standard. The past participle gemolken is considerably more common than gemelkt. Otherwise there is possibly a tendency to prefer the strong forms in the northern half of the German Sprachraum and the weak forms in the southern half.

##### Conjugation

$^1$Rare. $^2$Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
$^1$Rare.

##### Derived terms

* Melker, Melkerei, Melkung

##### Related terms

* Melken
* abmelken, durchmelken
* Dauermelken, Mäusemelken, Weitermelken
* Melkeimer, Melkkuh, Melkmaschine, Melkschemel

##### Descendants

* → Esperanto: melki
** Ido: melkar

##### See also

* Milch, Molkerei

#### Further reading

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

### Etymology 2
#### Adjective

melken
* inflection of melk:
** strong genitive masculine/neuter singular
** weak/mixed genitive/dative all-gender singular
** strong/weak/mixed accusative masculine singular
** strong dative plural
** weak/mixed all-case plural

## Middle Dutch
### Etymology

From Old Dutch *melkan, from Proto-West Germanic *melkan, from Proto-Germanic *melkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-.

### Verb

melken
* To milk.
* To draw in, to pull.
* To lure.

#### Descendants

* Dutch: melken
* Limburgish: mèlke

### Further reading

* “melken”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
* Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “melken”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Alternative forms

* melka

### Noun

melken m or f
* definite masculine singular of melk