tremble

See also: Tremble and tremblé

English

Etymology

From Middle English tremblen, from Old French trembler, from Late Latin tremulāre, ultimately from Latin tremere (“quiver, shake”). Cognate with Ancient Greek τρέμω (trémō).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹɛmbl̩/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: trem‧ble

Verb

tremble (third-person singular simple present trembles, present participle trembling, simple past and past participle trembled)

1. (intransitive) To shake, quiver, or vibrate.

   Her lip started to tremble as she burst into tears

   The dog was trembling from being in the cold weather all day.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

2. (intransitive, figurative) To fear; to be afraid.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, James 2:19:

     Thou beleeuest that there is one God, thou doest well: the deuils also beleeue, and tremble.

Derived terms

• knee-tremble
• tremble and obey

 

Translations

to shake

• Arabic: اِخْتَلَجَ (iḵtalaja), اِرْتَجَفَ (irtajafa)

  Moroccan Arabic: اترعد (ttarʕad)

• Armenian: դողալ (hy) (doġal)
• Aromanian: treambur, treamur
• Azerbaijani: titrəmək (az)
• Belarusian: дрыжа́ць impf (dryžácʹ)
• Bulgarian: треперя (bg) impf (treperja), трептя (bg) (treptja)
• Catalan: tremolar (ca)
• Cherokee: ᎤᎾᏫᎠ (unawia)
• Chickasaw: yollichi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哆嗦 (zh) (duōsuo), 顫抖／颤抖 (zh) (chàndǒu or zhàndǒu), 發抖／发抖 (zh) (fādǒu), 顫慄／颤栗 (zh) (zhànlì), 震顫／震颤 (zh) (zhènchàn)

• Crimean Tatar: qaltıramaq
• Czech: třást se (cs) impf, chvět se (cs) impf
• Dutch: beven (nl)
• Esperanto: tremi
• Finnish: väristä (fi)
• French: trembler (fr), vibrer (fr)
• Friulian: trimâ, trimulâ, balitâ, fremi
• Galician: tremer, treinar, buligar
• German: zittern (de)
• Gothic: 𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (reiran)
• Greek: τρέμω (el) (trémo)

  Ancient: τρέμω (trémō)

• Hungarian: reszket (hu), remeg (hu)
• Irish: creath, creathnaigh
• Italian: tremare (it), tremolare (it)
• Japanese: 震える (ja) (ふるえる, furueru)
• Kapampangan: karug
• Kituba: lenga, kulenga
• Korean: 떨다 (ko) (tteolda)

  Middle Korean: 드러〮치다〮 (tùléchìtá)

• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لەرزین (lerzîn)

• Latgalian: treisēt
• Latin: tremō
• Latvian: trīcēt
• Luxembourgish: zidderen
• Macedonian: трепери impf (treperi)
• Maori: rūrūtaina (with fear), ngāueue (as with an earthquake), kūnāwiri (with cold)
• Norman: tremblier
• Occitan: tremolar (oc)
• Old English: bifian
• Persian: لرزیدن (fa) (larzidan)
• Polish: drżeć (pl) impf
• Portuguese: tremer (pt)
• Quechua: chuhchuy
• Romanian: tremura (ro)
• Russian: дрожа́ть (ru) impf (drožátʹ), трясти́сь (ru) impf (trjastísʹ), трепета́ть (ru) impf (trepetátʹ)
• Sardinian: tremuài, tremulai, tremulare, trimulare
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дрхтати impf

  Roman: drhtati (sh) impf

• Sicilian: trantulijari, trimari
• Slovak: triasť sa impf, chvieť sa impf
• Slovene: tresti se impf, drhteti impf
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: rdžaś impf

• Southern Altai: тырлаар (tïrlaar)
• Spanish: tiritar (es), temblar (es)
• Swedish: darra (sv)
• Tajik: ларзидан (tg) (larzidan)
• Talysh: larze
• Tamil: நடுங்கு (ta) (naṭuṅku)
• Tat: lərzilən
• Telugu: అదురు (te) (aduru)
• Thai: สั่น (th) (sàn)
• Tok Pisin: guria
• Turkish: titremek (tr), ürpermek (tr)
• Ukrainian: тремті́ти (uk) impf (tremtíty), труси́тися impf (trusýtysja)
• Venetian: tremar (vec), tremołar
• Vietnamese: run (vi), rung (vi)
• Walloon: tronner (wa), triyaner (wa)
• Welsh: crynu (cy)
• Yiddish: ציטערן (tsitern)

to be afraid

• Azerbaijani: titrəmək (az)
• Bulgarian: тръпна (bg) (trǎpna), опасявам се (opasjavam se)
• French: trembler (fr)
• Maori: rūrūtaina
• Sicilian: trantulijari, siri scantatu

Noun

tremble (plural trembles)

1. A shake, quiver, or vibration.

Derived terms

• tremble dance

 

Translations

a shake

• Arabic: رَجْفَة (ar) f (rajfa)
• Armenian: դող (hy) (doġ)
• Bulgarian: треперене (bg) n (treperene), трепет (bg) m (trepet)
• Catalan: tremolor (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 哆嗦 (zh) (duōsuo), 顫抖／颤抖 (zh) (chàndǒu or zhàndǒu), 發抖／发抖 (zh) (fādǒu), 顫慄／颤栗 (zh) (zhànlì), 震顫／震颤 (zh) (zhènchàn)

• Finnish: värinä (fi)
• French: tremblement (fr) m, vibration (fr) f
• Galician: tremor m
• German: Zittern n
• Italian: tremore (it)
• Japanese: 震え (ふるえ, furue)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: لەرزە (lerze)

• Maori: korohāwini
• Portuguese: tremor (pt)
• Russian: дрожь (ru) f (drožʹ), дрожа́ние (ru) n (drožánije)
• Spanish: temblor (es), vibración (es), temblequera (es) f (colloquial)
• Tok Pisin: guria
• Yiddish: ציטער m (tsiter)

Related terms

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *trem-‎ (0 c, 23 e)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Latin tremulus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʁɑ̃bl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

tremble m (plural trembles)

1. aspen

Verb

tremble

1. inflection of trembler:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “tremble”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.