Well, “schmettern” (verb) literally means to smash or to belt something. “Schmetterling” comes from the old Slavic “Schmetten”, meaning cream (the one you skim off milk), but it sounds more like it comes from “schmettern”, which is a word still in use.
Ok but Schmetterling doesn’t even sound worse. Just picture it in a not angry German accent
The “schmett” makes me think of the mess that’s left if you squish one.
There’s too many consonants
But only the “TT” sound harsh, which is the same as butterfly, which I’d argue sounds harsher overall.
Good point. They even have the same amount of number of syllables.
Also, Butterfly sounds too much like Butt-fly
Thanks Sauerkraut, I thought so too.
If anything it’s a good exemple of a nice German word
Well, “schmettern” (verb) literally means to smash or to belt something. “Schmetterling” comes from the old Slavic “Schmetten”, meaning cream (the one you skim off milk), but it sounds more like it comes from “schmettern”, which is a word still in use.