louter

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch louter, variant of luyter, lûter, lutter, from Old Dutch *lūtir, luttir, from Proto-Germanic *hlūtraz. The -ou- is probably due to influence by late Middle High German lauter, older lūter, from Old High German hlūter, from the same Germanic source. Compare modern German lauter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑu̯tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑu̯tər

Adjective

louter (comparative louterder, superlative louterst)

1. (inflected) pure

   het louterste goud ― the purest gold

2. (invariable) a lot of; a bunch of

   Het zijn louter leugens. ― It’s a bunch of lies.

   Er zijn louter regels die we moeten volgen. ― There are a lot of rules we must follow.

Usage notes

• Sense 2 is originally a use of the adverb “purely” and is sometimes still interpretable as such. In the second example sentence, however, this is clearly not the case.

Declension

Declension of louter
uninflected	louter
inflected	loutere
comparative	louterder
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		louter	louterder	het louterst het louterste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	loutere	louterdere	louterste
	n. sing.	louter	louterder	louterste
	plural	loutere	louterdere	louterste
definite		loutere	louterdere	louterste
partitive		louters	louterders	—

Adverb

louter

1. only, solely, purely

Derived terms

• louteren