German Loanwords in The English Language
For a list of German loanwords to English, see Category:German loanwords.English has taken many loanwords from German, often without any change of spelling:
| German word | English loanword | Meaning of German word |
|---|---|---|
| abseilen | abseil | to descend by rope / to fastrope |
| Angst | angst | fear |
| Ansatz | ansatz | onset / entry / math. approach |
| Anschluss | anschluss | connection / access / annexation |
| Automat | automat | automation / machine |
| Bildungsroman | bildungsroman | novel concerned with the personal development or education of the protagonist |
| Blitz | Blitz | flash / lightning |
| Bratwurst | bratwurst | fried sausage |
| Delikatessen | delikatessen/delicatessen | delicate / delicious food items |
| Doppelgänger | doppelgänger | lit. "double going/living person alive", look-alike of somebody |
| Edelweiß | edelweiss | edelweiss flower |
| Fest | fest | feast / celebration |
| Gedankenexperiment | Gedankenexperiment | thought experiment |
| Geländesprung | gelandesprung | ski jumping for distance on alpine equipment |
| Gemütlichkeit | gemuetlichkeit | snug feeling, cosiness, good nature, geniality |
| Gestalt | Gestalt | form or shape / creature / scheme; refers to a concept of 'wholeness' |
| Gesundheit! | Gesundheit! (Amer.) | health / bless you! (when someone sneezes) |
| Heiligenschein | heiligenschein | meteo. "holy shine" / halo |
| Hinterland | hinterland | lit. mil. "area behind the front-line": interior / backwoods |
| kaputt | kaput | out of order, not working (from French, être capot "to have made no tricks in card games", lit. "to be hoodwinked") |
| Katzenjammer | katzenjammer | lit. "cats' lament": hangover, crapulence |
| Kindergarten | kindergarten | lit. "children's garden" - nursery or preschool |
| Kitsch | kitsch | fake art, something produced exclusively for sale |
| Kraut | kraut | herb, cabbage in some dialects |
| Leitmotiv | leitmotif | guiding theme (the verb "leiten" means "to guide, to lead") |
| plündern (v.) | to plunder | lit. "taking goods by force" (original meaning "to take away furniture" shifted in German and was borrowed by English both during the Thirty Years War) |
| Poltergeist | poltergeist | lit. "rumbling ghost" (artificial compound, not originally German) |
| Realpolitik | realpolitik | diplomacy based on practical objectives rather than ideals |
| Reich | reich | empire or realm |
| Rucksack | rucksack | backpack (Ruck→"Rücken" which means "back") |
| Sauerkraut | sauerkraut | shredded and salted cabbage fermented in its own juice |
| Schadenfreude | schadenfreude | taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune |
| Sprachraum | sprachraum | lit. "place/area/room of a language": area where a certain language is spoken |
| Übermensch | ubermensch | superhuman |
| verklemmt | verklemmt | lit. "jammed": inhibited, uptight |
| Waldsterben | waldsterben | lit. "forest dieback", dying floral environment |
| Wanderlust | wanderlust | desire, pleasure, or inclination to travel or walk |
| Weltanschauung | weltanschauung | lit. "perception of the world": ideology |
| Wunderkind | wunderkind | lit. "wonder child": child prodigy, whiz kid |
| Zeitgeist | zeitgeist | lit. "spirit of the times": the spirit of the age; the trend at that time |
| Zugzwang | Zugzwang | chess term lit. "compulsion to move" |
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Famous quotes containing the words the english language, german, english and/or language:
“Please stop using the word “Negro.”... We are the only human beings in the world with fifty-seven variety of complexions who are classed together as a single racial unit. Therefore, we are really truly colored people, and that is the only name in the English language which accurately describes us.”
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“By an application of the theory of relativity to the taste of readers, to-day in Germany I am called a German man of science, and in England I am represented as a Swiss Jew. If I come to be regarded as a bête noire the descriptions will be reversed, and I shall become a Swiss Jew for the Germans and a German man of science for the English!”
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“The English public, as a mass, takes no interest in a work of art until it is told that the work in question is immoral.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but the adventurous student will always study classics, in whatever language they may be written and however ancient they may be. For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man?... We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)