stiekem
secretly / on the sly
/ˈstikəm/adverb
Word forms
- inflected: stiekeme (secret/sneaky)
- comparative: stiekemer (more secretive)
- superlative: stiekemst (most secretive)
- noun: stiekemerd (sneaky person)
How it is spelled and how it sounds
The digraph 'ie' represents the close front unrounded vowel /i/, while the unstressed 'e' in the final syllable '-em' is reduced to a schwa /ə/ (making it a common spelling mistake, as people often write 'stiekum').
riekento reek / smelladembreathbezembroom
In connected speech
In rapid speech, the final /m/ in 'stiekem' may partially assimilate to a labiodental [ɱ] when followed by a word starting with /f/ or /v/, such as in 'stiekem verliefd'.
In the lessons (1 sentence)
s2-les-10 · 47Ondertussen kijkt Xing stiekem naar Gianluca en Marieke vanuit haar slaapkamer.Meanwhile Xing secretly watches Gianluca and Marieke from her bedroom.Open in lesson ↗
In the frequency dictionary
Fiction #614
Marked known.