Muis

mouse Click to listen Muis
[noun] 
[de muis, de mui-zen]

A "muis" is a mouse, both the animal and the computer pointer device. Unlike the plural in English (:mice), the plural in Dutch is regular. The 's' changes into a 'z' though: "muizen".

Examples:
– "Help!! Er zit een muis in de keukenkast." 
("Help!! There's a mouse in the kitchen cupboard." Note: "er zit…" is translated with "there is…" (lit.: "there sits…"))

– "Ik kom niet van de tafel voordat je die muis hebt weggejaagd!" 
("I won't come off the table before you've chased that mouse away!")

– "Ik heb pijn in mijn onderarm…" – "Misschien moet je een ergodynamische muis gaan gebruiken." 
("I have a pain in my lower arm…" – "Maybe you have to start using an ergo-dynamic mouse. ")

Expressions:
– "Als de kat van huis is, dansen de muizen op tafel": (lit.: if the cat's from home, the mice dance on the table) When the cat's away, the mouse will play / Without supervision, everybody does as he or she pleases.
– "Dit muisje krijgt nog een staartje": (lit.: this little mouse will get a (little) tail) this is not the end of it, this will have consequences. Note that in this expression "muisje" is often omitted: "dit krijgt nog een staartje".

Example:
– "De officier van justitie is een belangrijk dossier tijdens een treinrit kwijtgeraakt." – "Let op mijn woorden: dit muisje krijgt nog een staartje…"
("The district attorney has lost an important file during a ride on the train." – "Mark my words: this will have consequences…")

Related words:
– Knaagdier: rodent [noun] [het knaagdier, de knaagdieren].
– Rat: rat [noun] [de rat, de ratten].

Example:
– "Frank is voor de tweede keer deze maand vreemdgegaan…" – "Hij is een rat…"
("Frank has cheated on his girlfriend for the second time this month…" – "He is a rat…")

– Muizenval: mouse-trap [noun] [de muizenval, de muizenvallen].
Computeren: to use the computer for recreational purposes [verb] [computeren, computerde, h. gecomputerd].
– Klikken: to click [verb] [klikken, klikte, h. geklikt].
– Toetsenbord: keyboard [noun] [het toetsenbord, de toetsenborden].

3 thoughts on “Muis

  1. “Als de kat van huis is, dansen de muizen op tafel”
    When the cat’s away, the mouse will play, as we say.
    An English phrase that caused my Flemish brother-in-law to almost have a hernia from laughter when he told me he had begun an affair with a married woman while her husband was away on business…

  2. ‘Muis’ also translates in English to ‘thenar (eminence)’. This is the muscle on the palm of the human hand just beneath the thumb.

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