Monetary policy

German reverses a verb in ver- by swapping the prefix, not by stacking a second one on top. Expectations that are verankert, anchored, can come loose again, and the word for that is die Entankerung: ent- takes the place of ver-, and a form carrying both prefixes does not exist. English keeps the whole verb and puts de- or un- in front of it: de-anchor, unlock, decrypt. German does the same wherever ver- means putting something into a state. Verschlüsseln becomes entschlüsseln, verriegeln becomes entriegeln, and a state that has sich verschuldet, run up debts, may later be entschuldet, relieved of them. Both prefixes are inseparable, so neither participle takes ge-: verankert, entankert. In monetary policy the swap carries a warning. Die Verankerung der Erwartungen is what a central bank works at for years; die Entankerung is the moment that work comes undone.