Word.ws English Dictionary

Low German

Low German noun: a West Germanic language spoken in Low (i.e. Northern) Germany and north-eastern parts of the Netherlands, and formerly also in large parts of eastern and north-eastern Europe, which developed out of Middle Low German from Old Saxon; often treated as a dialect group of German (or Dutch) for convenience, but widely recognized as a separate language.

Noun

Low German (uncountable)

  1. A West Germanic language spoken in Low (i.e. Northern) Germany and north-eastern parts of the Netherlands, and formerly also in large parts of eastern and north-eastern Europe, which developed out of Middle Low German from Old Saxon; often treated as a dialect group of German (or Dutch) for convenience, but widely recognized as a separate language.
    Synonyms:
    Plattdeutsch, Platt

Adjective

Low German

  1. in, of or relating to Low German

Synonyms of Low German

Antonyms

Forms of Low German

alternative formLow-German

Origin of Low German

See low (as in lowland) and German, because northern Germany (Low Germany), where it is spoken, is lower in elevation than southern Germany. See also High German in contrast.

Words formed from Low German

Questions about Low German

What does Low German mean?
Low German means a West Germanic language spoken in Low (i.e. Northern) Germany and north-eastern parts of the Netherlands, and formerly also in large parts of eastern and north-eastern Europe, which developed out of Middle Low German from Old Saxon; often treated as a dialect group of German (or Dutch) for convenience, but widely recognized as a separate language.
What part of speech is Low German?
Low German can be a noun or an adjective.

Words near Low German in the dictionary

  1. low Fowler's
  2. Low Franconian
  3. Low Frankish
  4. low gear
  5. low gears
  6. Low German
  7. Low Germany
  8. Low Gill
  9. low grade
  10. low grade fever
  11. low grade fevers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Low German (page history and authors). 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-Low German.wav.

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