The Most Awesome German Compound Nouns
Some words are just better in German. Today I’m going to teach you my personal favorite German words and explain why you should love them, too.
Compound Nouns That are Greater than the sum of their parts.
die Tollwut - rabies
The ‘Toll’ in Tollwut doesn’t mean great, but ‘crazy’. ‘Toll’ is a old word for ‘verrückt’. Tollwut therefore is ‘crazy rage’.
die Nacktschnecke - slug
This is literally a naked snail.
der Zungenbrecher - tongue twister
In German they don't twist your tongue. They break it.
das Luftschloss - air castle
This is a dream that will likely never come true.
das Kopfkino - playing a scenario out in your mind
We all have it, but the Germans call it a head cinema.
das Drachenfutter - dragon feed
What do you feed a dragon? Who is the dragon? The dragon is your loved ones and the feed is a gift you give. This is a gift given to a loved one as an apology.
das Hüftgold - hip gold
The German expression is so much friendlier than the English "spare tire" or "muffin top". The extra fat around your midsection in German is hip gold
die französische Krankheit - syphilis
This is an older word, but it was too funny not to have on the list. The French disease is syphilis.
die Windpocken - chicken pox
While the English word is likely from a resemblance of the small red marks that a chicken would leave, if they pecked at you, the German word is about how it spreads. Wind pox are easily transmitted in the air with the wind, therefore "Windpocken".
der Durchfall - diarrhea
This one is actually the same for both English and German, but it takes a longer, more winding path in English to get to the same origin. Diarrhea comes from the Greek words "dia" (through) and "rhein" (to flow). It is literally flowing through you. In German, it is falling through. "Durchfall" means "through fall"
The “I bet you can’t come up with a one word translation for this” category
der Ohrwurm - ear worm
This is a song that gets stuck in your head
das Fernweh - far pain
he opposite of homesickness, a desire to travel
der Kummerspeck - grief/sadness fat
Many people on the internet think this translates as grief bacon, but they are stretching the meaning a bit. It is more closely related to the word fat, as other translations for
“Speck” include “fat” and “lard”.
das Fremdschämen - foreign shame
Shame for something someone else has done
die Torschlusspanik - gate closing panic
Torschlusspanik derived from the times where cities had city walls and gates, at a certain time gates were closed overnight. If you came too late, you had to spend the night outside of the city. Nowadays Torschlusspanik describes the fear to miss something important, like marriage or having children.
der Treppenwitz - staircase joke
A joke you come up with when you are walking away from an argument
der Weltschmerz - world pain
The melancholic pain you feel when you watch the world and its state.
die Schnapsidee - schnapps idea
An idea that you have when you are drunk
verschlimmbessern - to better worsen
To make things worse while trying to make them better, a combination of verbessern (to make better) and verschlimmern (to make worse, exacerbate)
der Kevinismus (Chantalismus) - Kevinism (Chantalism)
A person who is perceived to be of lower intelligence, have behavioral problems, or otherwise be unsuccessful, because their parents gave them an un-Germanic sounding name, bonus word “Alpha-Kevin” is someone who is especially dumb.
die Ostalgie - east nostalgia
Being nostalgic for those things that you had in East Germany
German words that sound like English words that the German word is not.
der Rahmen - frame
I just think it sounds like the noodles predominantly eaten by poor college students in the United States. I’m waiting on someone to make a picture frame out of ramen.
der Muckefuck - a coffee substitute
There is no such thing as a coffee substitute. There is coffee and not coffee. There is no substitute. If you are in the unfortunate situation of being served such a disgraceful drink, you may find yourself also saying “Muckefuck”.
die Fahrt - drive
Tee hee. He said fart. It is just a trip taken in a vehicle with wheels (cars, buses, trains, etc).
der Fuchs - fox
What kind of an animal is that? A Fuchs?
das Fach - subject
It means compartment or container, but is used to refer to subjects or disciplines in education as a figurative version of the word. I just like it, because it sounds like an English word that it clearly isn’t.
das Schließfach - locker
If you add any word that starts with an “S” to the beginning of a word that sounds like “Fach”, it is objectively funny.
Honorable Mention
die Schießbude - shooting gallery
Schießen means to shoot, but “Bude” sounds like “Buddha”. Why are they shooting Buddha?
Words that are fun if you know their origin
pendeln - to commute
From the noun “Pendel”, which is a pendulum. This verb literally is like swaying back and forth, but translates as “commute” or to travel back and forth from place to place. Cool.
die Notlüge - white lie
Literally this is an emergency lie. It is generally translated as a white lie or a lie that doesn’t really do any harm, but is born of necessity.
das Fettnäpfchen - saucer of fat
Fett = fat. Näpfchen = saucer. It is a saucer of fat. It is used in a colloquialism “ins Fettnäpfchen treten” which comes from a time when there was a saucer of fat that was kept near the stove. A “Napf” is a container that is usually used to feed animals. A “Näpfchen” is a small version. If you accidentally stepped in it, it would be an awkward encounter the next time you saw the house wife or maid.
This phrase, therefore, is used to describe a situation that makes it awkward for the next time you see that person. It is a way of ruining a relationship.
Learn more about awesome German nouns with these lessons!
Rhabarberbarbara (A Tongue Twister of German Compound Nouns)
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