Word.ws English Dictionary

german

Syllables: Ger·man/ˈd͡ʒɜː.mən//ˈd͡ʒɝ.mən/

german adjective: having the same mother and father; a full (brother or sister).

Adjective (1)

german (comparative more german, superlative most german)

  1. (obsolete except in set terms) Having the same mother and father; a full (brother or sister).
    • brother-german
  2. (obsolete except in set terms) Being born to one’s blood aunt or uncle; a first (cousin).
    • cousin-german
    • The doubtfull wordes whereof they scan and canvas to an fro.
      Which done, Prometheus sonne began by counsell wise and sage1567 Arthur Golding trans., Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 1, lines 460-2
  3. (obsolete) Closely related, akin.
    • After this Merlyn told vnto kynge Arthur of the prophecye / that there shold be a grete batail besyde Salysbury and Mordred his owne sone sholde be ageynste hym / Also he tolde hym that Basdemegus was his cosyn and germayn vnto kynge Vryence1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “xj”, in Le Morte Darthur, book II
    • The phrase would bee more Germaine.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...

Noun (1)

german (plural germans)

  1. (obsolete) A near relative.
    • Which when his german saw, the stony feare / Ran to his hart, and all his sence dismayd […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Noun (2)

german (plural germans)

  1. An elaborate round dance, often with a waltz movement.
    • Through the years, though, the german was replaced by new and more popular dances, but in many instances the name stayed on.1985, Betty Casey, Dance Across Texas, page 49
  2. A social party at which the german is danced.

Noun (3) capitalized: German

German (countable and uncountable, plural Germans)

  1. (countable) A native or inhabitant of Germany; a person of German citizenship or nationality.
    • The holiday evolved over centuries as it was observed by different groups, from the Celts to Germans to the Pennsylvania Dutch and eventually, by those in other parts of the US.2023 February 1, Scottie Andrew, “The bizarre history of Groundhog Day”, in CNN, archived from the original on 18 Jul 2024
  2. (historical) A member of a Germanic tribe.
    • Rome was sacked by Germans and the Western Roman Empire collapsed.
    Synonyms:
    Teuton
  3. A German wine.
    • […] tie them tightly in a thickly floured cloth, and boil them for three hours and a half. We can recommend this as a remarkably light small rich pudding : it may be served with German, wine, or punch sauce.1858, Eliza Acton, Modern Cookery in All Its Branches: Reduced to a System of Easy Practice, for the Use of Private Families : in a Series of Receipts, which Have Been Strictly Tested, and are Given...
    • The wine list harbours some great bottles, mature clarets and Burgundies as well as a clutch of fine Germans (gold-dust these days in restaurants) […]1996, Jim Ainsworth, Passport's Guide to Britain's Best Restaurants
  4. (US, dated, rare, uncountable) A size of type between American and Saxon, 1+¹⁄₂-point type.
  5. (Multicultural-London-English, slang) A Germany-produced car, a “German whip”.
    • In my German, they calling me a baller (skrr)
      Got me feeling like Özil2021 May 21, “Plugged In Freestyle”, Big Tobz in Big Tobz & Blittz (lyrics), Fumez The Engineer (music), 0:13–0:16
  6. (UK, slang) A prison warder.
    • There are some 32 different terms for prison officers, from the humorously affectionate kanga(rhyming slang:kangaroo = screw) and the variants Scooby-Doo and Dr. Who via the mildly confrontational German (as if still the enemy over 50 years after World War II!) to the outright abuse of shit-parcel.1996, Angela Devlin, Prison Patter, Waterside Press, →ISBN
  7. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of German cockroach.

Proper noun capitalized: German

German

  1. (uncountable) An Indo-European (Indo-Germanic) language, primarily spoken in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, South Tyrol, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and a small part of Belgium.
    • Meronyms: Low German (Plattdeutsch), High German
    • German has three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter.
    Synonyms:
    Deutsch, Dutch
  2. A surname.
  3. A male given name from Russian.
  4. A number of townships in the United States, listed under German Township.
  5. A parish of the sheading of Glenfaba, Isle of Man.

Adjective (2) capitalized: German

German (comparative more German, superlative most German or Germanest)

  1. Of or relating to the nation of Germany.
    • 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 […].2001, Donald L. Niewyk, The Jews in Weimar Germany, →ISBN, page 31
    • The vote in the Bundestag (parliament) on Thursday makes defiling foreign flags equal to the crime of defiling the German flag.2020 May 15, “Burning EU and other flags can now bring German jail term”, in BBC, archived from the original on 04 Jun 2025
  2. Of or relating to the natives or inhabitants of Germany; to people of German descent; to their cultures.
    • Her German husband has blond hair.
    • Goths, a German tribe, 9; allied with other tribes against Rome, 39; …1889, Theodore S. Fay, The three Germanys: glimpses into their history, vol. II, p. 1270 (inside the index)
  3. Of, in or relating to the German language.
    • Because the instructions were German, Yves couldn't read them.
    • 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).1816, George Henry Noehden, A Grammar of the German Language, 3rd edition, page 3
    Synonyms:
    Deutsch

german meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

german in Hindi

जर्मन

german in Tamil

ஜெர்மன்

german in Marathi

जर्मन

german in Urdu

جرمن
More languagesFewer languages
german in Bengali
জার্মান
german in Telugu
జర్మన్
german in Malayalam
ജർമ്മൻ, ജർമൻ
german in Kannada
ಜರ್ಮನ್
german in Punjabi
ਜਰਮਨ
german in Gujarati
જર્મન
german in Odia
ଜର୍ମାନ, ଜର୍ମାନ୍
german in Nepali
जर्मन

Examples of german in a sentence

  • German uses the masculine form of the definite article, der, with Student.
  • German interests were being damaged and Englishmen helped towards carrying out their egoïstic plans.
  • German speakers accounted for 37% of the population.

All 40 example sentences with german

Synonyms of german

1 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Forms of german

Adjective
comparativemore german
superlativemost german
alternative formgermane
comparativemore German
superlativemost German
superlativeGermanest
Noun
pluralgermans
pluralGermans
alternative abbreviationGerm.

Plural of german: germans

Origin of german

From Old French germain, from Latin germānus, from germen (“seed, sprout, bud”). See also germane, a formal variant which has survived in specific senses. Not related to the proper noun German.

From German (“of Germany”).

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.

Words formed from german

Phrases with german

86 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with german

Questions about german

What does german mean?
German means having the same mother and father; a full (brother or sister).
What is german in Hindi?
German in Hindi is जर्मन. See German meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is german?
German can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce german?
German is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɜː.mən/ (UK).

Words near german in the dictionary

  1. germacrone
  2. germacryl
  3. germain
  4. germaine
  5. germal
  6. german
  7. German 88
  8. German 88s
  9. German augmented sixth chord
  10. German augmented sixth chords
  11. German Autumn

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: german (page history and authors); German (page history and authors); german (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); german (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-german.wav, en-us-German.ogg.

Cite this entry: “german.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/german. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.