separation, divorce, parting
[noun]
[de schei-ding, de schei-din-gen]
In general, "scheiding" translates to "separation". In a specific context, the translation may be different. For example: in the context of a marriage, "scheiding" translates to "divorce". In the context of a haircut, "scheiding" translates to "parting".
"Scheiding" is often followed by the preposition "tussen" – "scheiding tussen" – which usually translates to "separation of".
Examples:
– "Ik ben voor een duidelijke scheiding tussen kerk en staat."
("I’m in favour of a clear separation of church and state.")
– "De scheiding van Vanessa is groot nieuws in showbizland."
("The divorce of Vanessa is big news in the world of showbiz.")
– "In Franks haar zit een vreemde scheiding…hij kan zijn hoofd beter kaal scheren…"
("Frank’s hair has a funny parting…he’d better shave his head (bold)…")
Expressions:
– "Het kaf van het koren scheiden": to separate the wheat from the chaff, to separate the good from the bad.
Related words:
– Scheiden: to separate, to divorce [verb] [scheiden, scheidde, gescheiden].
– Echtscheiding: divorce [noun] [de echtscheiding, de echtscheidingen]. Mark that "echt" translates to "matrimony" in this context, so the literal translation would be: matrimony separation. You may sometimes see the pun "vechtscheiding", lit.: fighting divorce, meaning an ugly divorce.
Example:
– "Een echtscheiding in de wereld van BN’ers is vaak een vechtscheiding…"
("A divorce in the world of famous Dutch people is often ugly…")
– Ex: ex [noun] [de ex, de exen].
– Huwelijk: marriage [noun] [het huwelijk, de huwelijken].
– Hereniging: reunion [noun] [de hereniging, de herenigingen].
hi guys. i live in holland and i’m (slowly) learning dutch… your site is making it a lot more enjoyable 🙂 although not easier!
i have heard of the expression – iemand in zijn lurven grijpen.
(i’m not sure that i’d like to be grabbed by the lurvs, lol)
can you explain what the word ‘lurven’ means?
Hi Cliff, thanks for your note. I searched the blog because I remembered we had some discussion on this in the past and found this related post:
http://www.dwotd.nl/2006/09/dwotd_42_klad.html
Hope this helps,
Sander
Excellent post on scheiding. How do the Dutch distinguish between separation and divorce (as marital statuses),or do they?
‘Scheiding’ as word of the day, and then no more postings for some ten days. Is all alright there? Let us know how you’re doing, you’re a reference for so many.
In American English, we call it a “part” in your hair. The British call it a “parting”. An American hairdresser might say “on which side you do wear your part?” or “which side do you part your hair on?”
In American English, parting doesn’t refer to hair; it’s used like this: “parting is such sweet sorrow.”
I hate to be a muggenzifter, but Shakespeare wrote “parting is such sweet sorrow”, so I don’t think you could call that American English…