afkoel

Afkoel is a Dutch verb form derived from the prefix af- attached to koelen, the verb meaning to cool. The canonical infinitive is afkoelen, meaning to cool down or to become cooler. The form afkoel itself is not used as the base lemma in standard Dutch, but the sequence occurs as part of conjugated forms with the stem koel (for example, ik koel af).

Conjugation and forms: Present: ik koel af; jij koelt af; hij koelt af; wij koelen af; jullie koelen af; zij koelen af. Past: koelde af. Present perfect: heeft afgekoeld. Past perfect: had afgekoeld. Imperative: koel af!

Usage: The construction describes lowering the temperature of a person, object, or environment, such as cooling hot food, reducing the heat of equipment, or the weather. It can also be used metaphorically to refer to calming emotions or reducing tension. In medical contexts, people more commonly speak of het verlagen van de koorts (reducing fever) rather than afkoelen, though afkoelen may appear to describe a staged cooling process in some contexts, for example when presenting cooling measures during treatment.

Etymology and related terms: The word is formed from the prefix af- and koelen (to cool). Koelen is related to the Dutch root for cool, with related terms such as koel (cool), koeling (cooling), and koeltechniek (cooling technology). The semantic field covers physical cooling as well as metaphorical cooling of tensions or emotions.

See also: cooling, koeling, koeltechniek, fever management.