English is a Germanic language, which means it is in the same family as German. Because of this many words are very similar or the same in both languages. This article is not about those, it is about words that came to modern English from modern German.
We also have other posts about words from Italian, French, Polish,
Spanish, and
Portuguese. If we haven’t covered your language yet, leave a message and we’ll do it soon!
Technical words
Most words that and
Business English uses from German are technical words. They are used all the time within their fields, but we don’t use them in normal everyday conversation. However there are a few you might have come across before especially if you like reading in English, for example:
angst,
einkorn,
fife (from Pfeife),
flugelhorn,
geist,
hinterland,
Kaiser,
knickpoint,
leitmotif (from Leitmotiv),
ubermensch, and
umlaut.
British Food in German
The most popular words used in
English that come from German are (as with most other languages) words related to food. Some of them are so common that most people don’t even realise they are German words.
Hamburger,
gummy bear (from Gummibar),
muesli,
noodle (from nudel),
lager and even
bundt cake (from Bundkuchen) are all words of German origin.
Some other words related to food still bring back German connections, like
bratwurst (or sometimes brat),
pretzel (from Bretze),
pumpernickel,
sauerkraut,
wiener and
strudel.
Another word that most people don’t realise comes from German is deli. The long version is
delicatessen, from the German Delikatessen.
Other words
Besides food and harder technical words, there are other common words that made their way to
modern English from German.
Doberman,
poodle,
rottweiler and some other names of dog races are originally German. As is the word
hamster.
Two very ‘German’ words almost everyone knows are
Oktoberfest and
lederhosen, and of course also
fest to talk about any sort of festival. Another word that has become popular in recent years especially is
uber.
Rucksack is also a
German word, as is
kindergarten (be careful with that one, many people spell it ‘kindergarden’ with a d but it should be with a t!). And if you like art you have probably also come across the word
kitsch.
