What does “poetsen” mean in Belgium vs the Netherlands?
Over poetsen, pauzes nemen en het wel verdiend hebben
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Curated for beginners
Poetsen in Belgian Dutch usually means cleaning the house. In Standard Dutch (NL), the same word more often means polishing (shoes, silver, teeth), and house-cleaning is schoonmaken. This is one of the cleaner Belgium-vs-Netherlands lexical splits. Belgians also say kuisen (literally “to cleanse”) for the same act, which in Dutch (NL) sounds vaguely religious or surgical. The Belgian poetsvrouw (cleaning lady) is the Dutch werkster or schoonmaakster.
In this Play clip, the host asks the guest directly: “Poets jij zelf, Charlotte? Of heb je daar personeel voor?” Charlotte: “Nee, ik poets zelf.”
Vocabulary frequency
How common is the vocabulary in this A2 Dutch listening practice listening practice?
General Dutch frequency
Spoken Dutch frequency
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.
- ▸In Belgian-vs-Dutch lexicon coverage (Onze Taal, Taaltelefoon, VRT Taal)
- ▸In Belgian household-services coverage (Dienstencheques Vlaanderen, Het Nieuwsblad, De Standaard)
- ▸In Dutch cleaning-and-household press (NRC Wonen, Ouders.nl, J/M Ouders)
- ▸In Belgian-vs-Dutch comedy contrasts (Toren C, Hans Teeuwen, Wim Helsen)