thumb-tack, drawing-pin 
[noun]
[de pu-nai-se, de pu-nai-ses]
The Dutch language has quite a number of words that are imported from other languages. "Punaise" is one of them. It’s of course imported from the French language. Funny, because apparently the "punaise" was invented in Germany… 🙂
Examples:
– "Weet jij waar ik punaises kan vinden?"
("Do you know where I can find the thumb-tacks?")
– "De punaises liggen in de bovenste
la,
tenminste,
daar heb ik ze voor het laatst gezien."
("The thumb-tacks are in the top drawer, at least,
that’s where I saw them last.")
– "Heeft Frank een punaise op de stoel van zijn baas gelegd??" – "Hij is niet goed snik!"
("Did Frank put a drawing-pin on his manager’s chair??" – "He’s out of his mind!")
Related words:
– Vastpinnen : to keep someone to it (lit.: to pin down) [verb] [vastpinnen, pinde vast, vastgepind].
Example:
– "Het ligt voor de hand dat Senna er vanavond zal zijn, maar pin me er niet op vast."
("Senna will probably be there tonight, but don’t keep me to / pin me down on it.")
– Plakband: tape [noun] [de plakband, <no plural>].
– Lijm: glue [noun] [de lijm, de lijmen].
I’ve seen the word “duimspijker” in the newspaper, and was surprised to see that Van Dale’s says that this is a Belgian word. Not knowing better, I wouldn’t have expected Vlaams to sound more Dutch to my ear than Nederlands.
Correct English is “the punaise WAS invented in Germany” not “the punaise has been invented in Germany”. It’s hard for Dutch people to get the past tenses right in English.
I have been having that problem too, with the past tenses….
Came on this site because a French friend of mine posted ‘Vivement Le printemps- punaise!!’……I learned a whole new meaning for our ‘ thumb-tack’…