Schimmel

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1. fungus, mould Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[de schim-mel, de schim-mels]Broodschimmel

Een "schimmel" is a fungus or a mould. A mushroom is a "paddenstoel" (which grows in the wild) or "champignon" (which is grown on farms).

Examples:
– "Er zit schimmel op het brood." 
("The bread is moulded." Lit.: "There’s mould on the bread.")

– "De dokter heeft een zalf voorgeschreven voor de schimmel tussen mijn tenen." 
("The doctor has prescribed an ointment for the mould between my toes.")

– "Wat is er met deze boom aan de hand?" – "Ik denk dat er de schimmel in zit." 
("What’s going on with this tree?" – "I think it’s been affected by a fungus." Lit.: "I think that the fungus is in it.")

Related words:
– (Be)schimmelen: to mould, to get mouldy [verb] [(be)schimmelen, (be)schimmelde, (be)schimmeld].
– Paddenstoel: mushroom [verb] [de paddenstoel, de paddenstoelen].

Example:
– "Deze paddenstoel behoort tot een familie giftige schimmels."
("This mushroom belongs to a family of poisonous fungi.")

Extra:
The Dutch have a lot of rules to guarantee hygiene in the horeca. Of course, not all restaurants follow the rules…which has led to an entertaining TV show: "Smaakpolitie" (lit.: taste police). Its host Rob de Geus is on a personal mission to ban every mould from Dutch kitchens. Watch this remarkable clip, where he visists a student dorm…

2. grey (horse) Iconspeaker_3
[noun]
[de schim-mel, de schim-mels]Schimmelsinterklaas

A "schimmel" is also a grey (horse). The most famous grey in the Netherlands makes its appearance around the 5th of December: Sinterklaas’ favourite way of transport is his grey 🙂

Examples:
– "Sinterklaas rijdt op zijn schimmel over de Nederlandse daken…geloof jij het?" 
("Sinterklaas rides his grey over the Dutch rooftops…do you believe it?")

– "Deze schimmel is een lief beest, dat zwarte paard is vals…" 
("This grey horse is a sweet animal, that black horse is mean…")

Expressions:
– "Je mag een gegeven paard niet in bek kijken": to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Related words:
– Paard: horse [noun] [het paard, de paarden].
– Tuig: harness [noun] [het tuig, <no plural>].

Example:
– "Ik heb een nieuw tuig voor mijn schimmel gekocht."
("I bought a new harness for my gray.")

– Pakjesavond: (lit.) evening of presents, Sinterklaas’ evening.

3 thoughts on “Schimmel”

  1. Thanks again for this excellent website. I came across ‘eekhoornbroodtje’ (though I won’t guarantee I’ve remembered the spelling correctly) as a word for mushroom. I guess it literally means ‘little squirrel bread’ so I wonder if it’s a childhood name for mushrooms or perhaps a particular variety. If you can throw any light on the matter I’d be grateful.

  2. I think that eekhoornbroodtje is a particular type of mushroom, but I’m not certain.
    What I wanted to say, though, was that that clip from the Smaakpolitie was pretty gross, but I’ve seen much worse!

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