Scharrel

flirt, pick-up [noun] [de scharrel, de scharrels]

‘Scharrel’ is used for the person with whom you have a fling. This fling can be for the duration of an evening or night, but usually for a short period with some kind of regular interaction. If it is really just for the night, the Dutch use the English expression ‘one night stand’ (if you-know-what happened).

‘Scharrel’ is derived from the verb ‘scharrelen’, see ‘Related words’.

Examples:
– "Is dat je nieuwe vriendje, of gewoon een scharrel?"
("Is that your new boyfriend, or just a flirt?" Pay attention to the use of ‘vriendje’ here. It is the diminutive of ‘vriend’: ‘friend’. It is very common for women to use this diminutive when talking about a boyfriend. When talking about a male friend, one says ‘een vriend’.)

– "Die gast heeft altijd alleen maar scharrels en is niet in staat om een echte relatie te hebben."
("That guy/bloke always (only) has flings and is not capable of having a real relationship." Lit.: "…always only has flirts…". The word ‘gast’ literally means ‘guest’ but can be used informally to denote a man.)

Related words:
– "Scharrelen": to scratch up, scrape together. Also: to rummage (about/around).

Examples:
– "De bedelaar had wat geld bij elkaar gescharreld voor een koffie."
("The beggar had scraped together some money for a coffee.")

– "Onze buurman heeft de hele dag in de tuin gescharreld om onkruid te wieden."
("Our neighbour has rummaged around in the garden all day to do some weeding.")

Scharreleiren
– "Scharrelkip": free-range chicken/hen as opposed to battery cage chickens.
– "Scharreleieren": the eggs a ‘scharrelkip’ produces. This name is explicitly stated on a box of free-range eggs.