German

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable) A native or inhabitant of Germany; a person of German citizenship or nationality.
2. (countable, uncountable) A member of the Germanic ethnic group which is the most populous ethnic group in Germany; a person of German descent.
3. (countable, historical, uncountable) A member of a Germanic tribe.
4. (countable, uncountable) A German wine.
5. (US, dated, rare, uncountable) A size of type between American and Saxon, 1+¹⁄₂-point type.
6. (Multicultural-London-English, countable, slang, uncountable) A Germany-produced car, a “German whip”.
7. (British, countable, slang, uncountable) A prison warder.

Name

1. (uncountable) An Indo-European (Indo-Germanic) language, primarily spoken in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, South Tyrol, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and a small part of Belgium.
2. A surname.
3. A number of townships in the United States, listed under German Township.
4. A parish of the sheading of Glenfaba, Isle of Man.

Adj

1. Of or relating to the nation of Germany.
2. Of or relating to the natives or inhabitants of Germany; to people of German descent; to their cultures.
3. Of, in or relating to the German language.

Synonyms

German language

Teuton

High German

Germanic

Dutch

🇳🇱/🇨🇼/🇸🇽/🇧🇶

sib

German person

IBM

Jerry

Kraut

old German

𐐖𐐲𐑉𐑋𐑌𐐲

newspeak

Deutsch

Prussian swine

Hun

Standard German

Germany

kraut

Translations

tedesco

🇩🇪

alemán

🇩🇪

alemão

🇩🇪

allemand

🇩🇪

Deutsch

🇩🇪

Duits

🇩🇪

alemany

🇩🇪

Allemand

Deutscher

🇩🇪

deutsch

🇩🇪

Almanca

elmanî

🇩🇪

γερμανικά

γερμανικός

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈd͡ʒɜː.mən/

Etymology

From Latin Germānus, Germānī (“the peoples of Germānia”), as distinct from Gauls (in the writings of Caesar and Tacitus), and of uncertain ultimate origin (possibly Celtic/Gaulish).
Not related to german (“closely related”) or germane (from the Latin adjective germānus, through Old French).
Attested since at least 1520. Replaced the older terms Almain and Dutch (from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz) in English. Besides cognates of German, Almain, and Dutch, two other categories of words for the Germans in other languages are cognates of Saxon and descendants of Proto-Slavic *němьcь; see those entries for more.
The surname is generally from the noun, though sometimes confused with Herman, Hermann under Russian influence. As a German surname, Americanized from Germann. Compare Germán, Germain, Jerman.

Sentences

They were initially connected to the German krautrock scene .

By the next night , the German ships had withdrawn , and " Australia " returned to Rosyth .

Matthei was born among a community of German Chileans in Southern Chile .

For the first KdF trips , the German cruise companies mostly chartered older passenger ships .

Generally adapted from passenger liners , they were larger than the German merchant raiders .

Rust was born in Hannover , and obtained a doctorate in German philology and philosophy .