german

[jur-muh n] /ˈdʒɜr mən/
adjective
1.
having the same father and mother, as a full brother or sister (usually used in combination):
a brother-german.
2.
born of the brother or sister of one's father or mother, as a first cousin (usually used in combination):
a cousin-german.
3.
Archaic. germane.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English germain < Old French < Latin germānus, derivative of germen; see germ

German

[jur-muh n] /ˈdʒɜr mən/
adjective
1.
of or pertaining to Germany, its inhabitants, or their language.
noun
2.
a native or inhabitant of Germany.
3.
a descendant of a native of Germany.
4.
Also called High German. an Indo-European language that is based on a High German dialect, is official in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and is also widely used as an international language for scholarship and science.
Abbreviation: G, G.
5.
Linguistics. any variety of West Germanic speech native to Germany, Austria, or Switzerland.
6.
(usually lowercase) an elaborate social dance resembling a cotillion.
7.
(lowercase) New England and South Atlantic States. a dancing party featuring the german.
Origin
1520-30; < Latin Germānus German; cognate with Greek Germanoí (plural)
Related forms
anti-German, noun, adjective
half-German, adjective
non-German, adjective, noun
pre-German, adjective, noun
pro-German, adjective, noun
pseudo-German, adjective, noun
quasi-German, adjective
un-German, adjective
Examples from the web for german
  • Was a german philosopher known for his atheistic pessimism and philosophical clarity.
  • Nevertheless, the german imperial government now saw one more chance for victory.
  • It is from these bodies that the modern german works or factory committees emerged.
  • According to speer, allied bombing was not the biggest problem for german industry.
  • Automobiles played a major role on the show, in particular german luxury vehicles.
  • Goldman found it difficult to acclimate to the german leftist community.
  • Consonants were written following the example of german with multiple letters.
  • The official language, german, is spoken by almost all residents of the country.
  • They are supposed to have triggered the great german migrations into western europe.
  • There is an ongoing public debate about the issue of german patriotism.
British Dictionary definitions for german

german1

/ˈdʒɜːmən/
noun
1.
(US) a dance consisting of complicated figures and changes of partners
Word Origin
C19: shortened from German cotillion

german2

/ˈdʒɜːmən/
adjective
1.
(used in combination)
  1. having the same parents as oneself: a brother-german
  2. having a parent that is a brother or sister of either of one's own parents: cousin-german
2.
a less common word for germane
Word Origin
C14: via Old French germain, from Latin germānus of the same race, from germen sprout, offshoot

German

/ˈdʒɜːmən/
noun
1.
the official language of Germany and Austria and one of the official languages of Switzerland; the native language of approximately 100 million people. It is an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch, closely related to English and Dutch. There is considerable diversity of dialects; modern standard German is a development of Old High German, influenced by Martin Luther's translation of the Bible See also High German, Low German
2.
a native, inhabitant, or citizen of Germany
3.
a person whose native language is German: Swiss Germans, Volga Germans
adjective
4.
denoting, relating to, or using the German language
5.
relating to, denoting, or characteristic of any German state or its people
related
prefixes Germano- Teuto-
Word Origin and History for german
adj.

"of the same parents or grandparents," c.1300, from Old French germain "closely related" (12c.), from Latin germanus "full, own (of brothers and sisters); one's own brother; genuine, real," related to germen (genitive germinis) "sprout, bud," dissimilated from PIE *gen(e)-men-, from root *gene- "to give birth, beget" (see genus). Your cousin-german (also first cousin) is the son or daughter of an uncle or aunt; your children and your first cousin's are second cousins to one another; to you, your first cousin's children are first cousin once removed.

German

n.

"Teuton, member of the Germanic tribes," 1520s (plural Germayns attested from late 14c.), from Latin Germanus, first attested in writings of Julius Caesar, who used Germani to designate a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul, origin unknown, probably the name of an individual tribe. It is perhaps of Gaulish (Celtic) origin, perhaps originally meaning "noisy" (cf. Old Irish garim "to shout") or "neighbor" (cf. Old Irish gair "neighbor"). The earlier English word was Almain (early 14c.) or Dutch.

Þe empere passede from þe Grees to þe Frenschemen and to þe Germans, þat beeþ Almayns. [John of Trevisa, translation of Higdon's Polychronicon, 1387]
Their name for themselves was the root word of modern German Deutsch (see Dutch). Roman writers also used Teutoni as a German tribal name, and Latin writers after about 875 commonly refer to the German language as teutonicus. See also Alemanni and Teutonic. As an adjective, from 1550s. The German shepherd (dog) (1922) translates German deutscher Schäferhund. German Ocean as an old name for the North Sea translates Ptolemy. German measles attested by 1856.

german in Technology
human language
\j*r'mn\ A human language written (in latin alphabet) and spoken in Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland.
German writing normally uses four non-ASCII characters: "äöüß", the first three have "umlauts" (two dots over the top): A O and U and the last is a double-S ("scharfes S") which looks like the Greek letter beta (except in capitalised words where it should be written "SS"). These can be written in ASCII in several ways, the most common are ae, oe ue AE OE UE ss or sz and the TeX versions "a "o "u "A "O "U "s.
See also ABEND, blinkenlights, DAU, DIN, gedanken, GMD, kluge.
Usenet newsgroup: news:soc.culture.german. (ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/usenet/news-info/soc.answers/german-faq), (ftp://alice.fmi.uni-passau.de/pub/dictionaries/german.dat.Z).
(1995-03-31)