German
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈd͡ʒɜː.mən/
ipa: /ˈd͡ʒɝ.mən/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)mən
Forms: form: more German
form: most German
form: Germanest
form: Germ.
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.
Senses: examples: text: In Prussia, always the most progressive of the German states during the Weimar years and a stronghold of the two parties, Jews could be found in virtually all administrative departments […].
ref: 2001, Donald L. Niewyk, The Jews in Weimar Germany, →ISBN, page 31:
text: The vote in the Bundestag (parliament) on Thursday makes defiling foreign flags equal to the crime of defiling the German flag.
ref: 2020 May 15, “Burning EU and other flags can now bring German jail term”, in BBC, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2025:
glosses: Of or relating to the nation of Germany.
examples: text: Her German husband has blond hair.
text: Goths, a German tribe, 9; allied with other tribes against Rome, 39; …
ref: 1889, Theodore S. Fay, The three Germanys: glimpses into their history, vol. II, p. 1270 (inside the index)
text: If Demandt's essay served as a strident example of the German desire for normalcy, a more subtle example was provided by a brief allohistorical depiction of a Nazi victory in World War II written by German historian Michael Salewski in 1999.
ref: 2005 May 23, Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, The World Hitler Never Made: Alternate History and the Memory of Nazism, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 182:
hypernyms: European
glosses: Of or relating to the natives or inhabitants of Germany; to people of German descent; to their cultures.
examples: text: Because the instructions were German, Yves couldn't read them.
text: In this manner there existed, about the time of the Reformation, three grand divisions of the German language, viz. the Upper German (Ober Deutsch), the Low German (Nieder Deutsch, or Platt Deutsch), and lastly the High German (Hoch Deutsch).
ref: 1816, George Henry Noehden, A Grammar of the German Language, 3rd edition, page 3:
text: To trace its progress, it will be necessary to enter into detail, and to examine the German language in its two great divisions, the Low and High German.
ref: 1838, Joseph Bosworth, A Dictionary of the Anglo-saxon Language, page xiii:
text: This volume is intended to provide a survey of the linguistic characteristics of modern German dialects …. These are defined geographically as those within the borders of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Austria, the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and Alsace in France ([..]).
ref: 1990, Charles V.J. Russ, Introduction, in: Charles V.J. Russ (ed.), The Dialects of Modern German: A Linguistic Survey, p. xviii (note: the work covers Frisian, Low and High German dialects)
synonyms: word: Deutsch
hypernyms: Indo-European
meronyms: Low German
High German
glosses: Of, in or relating to the German language.
Synonyms: word: Teutonic
word: Germanic
Hypernyms: word: European
Hyponyms: word: Bavarian
word: Hessian
word: Freisian
word: Prussian
word: Rhenish
word: Saar
word: Saxon
word: Sorbian
word: Swabian
word: Westphalian
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Central German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Autumn
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German bearded iris
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Bight
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German biscuit
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German bit
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German carp
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German chamomile
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German dualism
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German flute
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German fried potatoes
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German iris
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German ivy
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German lute
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Germanly
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German madwort
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German New Guinea
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Ocean
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German pancake
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German paste
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Sea
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German shepherd
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Shorthaired Pointer
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Spitz Klein
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Spitz Mittel
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German turnip
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German wheat
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German whist
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: German Wirehaired Pointer
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Gotho-German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: High German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Low German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Middle High German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: National Socialist German Workers' Party
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: New High German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: non-German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Old High German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Pennsylvania German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Pennsylvanian German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Swiss German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Swiss-German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Upper German
sense: Terms derived from German (adjective)
word: Zipser German
Related terms: word: St Germans
word: Wiktionary’s coverage of German terms
word: Germanic language