schmerzhaft

Schmerz +‎ -haft

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃmɛʁt͡shaft/

• audio

  (file)

• audio

  (file)

schmerzhaft (strong nominative masculine singular schmerzhafter, comparative schmerzhafter, superlative am schmerzhaftesten)

1. painful (causing physical or emotional pain)

   Antonym: schmerzlos

   Der Rohrstock war im Fürsorgeheim als besonders schmerzhaftes Erziehungsinstrument für empfindliche Vergehen vorgesehen.

   The cane was intended to be used in the protectory as a particularly painful educational tool in case of grave misdeeds.

• The adjective is rarely used of body parts, particularly not in predicative position. The phrase mein Bein ist schmerzhaft (“my leg is painful”) would be grammatically doubtful and, at any rate, unusual. One says: mein Bein tut weh or mein Bein schmerzt (“my leg hurts”). In attributive position, it is somewhat more current: ein schmerzhaftes Bein (“a painful leg”), though schmerzend may be preferable.

• “schmerzhaft” in Duden online
• “schmerzhaft” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache