Betweterig

pedantic, clever-clever [adjective]

The adjective "betweterig" is derived from the noun "betweter". A "betweter", composed of ‘bet’ and ‘weter’ (pronounced: bet-waiter), is a person who ‘knows it better’. In Dutch, ‘to know’ translates to ‘weten’, and ‘better’ to ‘beter’.
If you want to create an adjective that describes that something or somebody has the characteristics of a noun or verb, you can often do this by replacing the ‘-en’ at the end with ‘-erig’ (translated: ‘-y’) in case of a verb, or add ‘-ig’ in case of a noun, like "betweterig". See ‘Extra’ for more examples.

Examples:
– "Wat ben jij betweterig!"
("You’re so pedantic!" or "How pedantic you are!")

– "Ik vind hem nogal betweterig overkomen op het werk."
("I think he comes across as quite pedantic at work.")

– "Tijdens de vergadering gedroeg Frank zich behoorlijk betweterig.")
("During the meeting, Frank acted quite pedantically.")

– "Die nieuwe productmanager vind ik een bijdehante betweter."
("I think (that) that new product manager is a know-it-all wise-guy.")

Related words:
– "Betweter": someone who knows it better all the time, wise-guy.
– "Bijdehand": bright, sharp, quick-witted.
– "Wijsneus": wise-guy (literally: wise nose).

Extra:
Here are a few examples of words ending with "-ig". See if you can think of the corresponding verbs:
– "zweterig": sweaty.
– "beverig": shaky.
– "rillerig": shivery.
– "slaperig": sleepy.

The following words are derived from nouns:
– "aardig": friendly, nice.
– "gezellig": cosy/’nice atmosphere’-like (typical and well-known Dutch word that is hard to translate).
– "krenterig": stingy. Literally: currant-like.
– "kattig": catty.
– "mistig": foggy.
– "vettig": greasy.

2 thoughts on “Betweterig

  1. I think there’s not one exact antonym for “betweterig” (pedantic)… Perhaps “meegaand” (compliant, lit.: going along) or “inschikkelijk” (accommodating) will do…

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