WORDS
OF GERMAN ORIGIN
Key: The word's language of origin appears directly below it, and to the right of that is an example sentence and an etymology, along with any related themes.
Word |
Phonetic Pronunciation |
Part of Speech |
Definition |
doppelgänger
German |
DOP-el-GANG-er |
noun |
1. a ghostly counterpart of a living person
2. alter ego |
Ex.
Etym.
Rel. Themes: |
Each full moon, a doppelgänger follows in his steps, driving all traces of sanity from his
brain.
German, “double goer”
Words That Impress
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widdershins
German* |
WI-dur-shinz |
|
1. in a direction opposite to the usual; the wrong way; counterclockwise
2. in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun (considered as unlucky or causing disaster) |
Ex.
Etym.
Rel. Themes:
* |
"The coracle whirled round, clockwise, then widdershins." (Anthony Bailey)
Chiefly a Scottish dialect word, probably from Middle Low German weddersinnes, lit. "against the way"
Likely Literary, Little-known Synonyms, Sounds Silly
Technically not a German word, since modern German (or "New High German") is different from the Middle Low German (c. 1100 - c. 1500) from which this word is likely descended
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