to worry, to brood, to ponder [verb] [piekerde, gepiekerd] [‘pie-ku-run’]

The verb "piekeren" has no direct relation to "piek", which appeared not so long ago on DWOTD.nl. "Piekeren" is used for intensive thinking about something without reaching an outcome. Usually a lot of worrying is involved. "Piekeren" is not a direct translation of "to worry" though, see the Related words.

Since "piekeren" is a continuous activity, it is often used with a typical Dutch construction for continuous activities: [subject]  + [conjugation of verbs suchs as "lopen" / "zitten" / "staan" / "hangen"]  + [te] + [infinitive]. See the Examples.

Examples:
– "Ik loop al de hele dag te piekeren over wat Frank me vanochtend vertelde."
("I’ve been worrying all day about what Frank told me this morning.")

– "Waar zit je toch over te piekeren, schat?"
("What’s on you mind now, darling?" Lit.: "What are you worrying about now, darling?")

– "Daar moet ik eens goed over piekeren."
("I’ve got to give it some serious thought." Lit.: "I’ve got to ponder it a while.")

– "Ilsa heeft zich de hele week suf gepiekerd over wat ze in haar bruiloftspeech zal zeggen."
("All week, Ilsa has been worrying herself sick about what she will say in her wedding speech.")

Expression:
– "Ik pieker er niet over!": "I wouldn’t even dream/think of doing it!"

Related words:
– "Zorgen": [noun, plural] worries.
– "Zich zorgen maken": to worry. Lit.: to make oneself worries.
– "Denken": to think.
– "Nadenken": to think, to reflect (on).