Word origins

• abiturientA pupil / student in the German education system who is taking, or who has taken and passed, the Abitur.
• ablautThe substitution of one root vowel for another, thus indicating a corresponding modification of use or meaning; vowel permutation, distinct from the phonetic influence of a succeeding vowel.
• abraumA red ocher used to darken mahogany and for making chloride of potassium.
• abstandOf a language or dialect (a lect), being different from another lect in its intrinsic linguistic features (as opposed to extrinsic features such as social, political or legal status)
• ach-lautThe guttural phoneme /x/ (the voiceless velar fricative) of the German language, the sound of the letters ch in German coming immediately after a, o and u (central and back vowels), also found in other languages.
• achromatopsiaTotal color blindness; the total inability to distinguish colors due to the absence of cone cells in the eyes.
• actographA device that records the movements of a sleeping person.
• AdelmannA surname from German.
• AeolineA string stop on an organ with a very soft tone.
• AffenspalteA major sulcus defining the primary visual cortex in apes and other monkey species.
• AfterlehenA medieval fief, which a liege lord received then subsequently enfeoffed wholly or partially to a vassal or vassals.
• agamonta cell that divides by schizogony
• AhlbornA surname from German.
• ahlspiessA polearm used in Germany in the 15th century.
• AhnenerbeA National Socialist German organization whose goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan race, and later to experiment and launch voyages with the intent of proving that prehistoric and mythological Nordic populations had once ruled the world.
• airorhynchyA retroflexion of the face at the front of the palate in primates.
• akjalarger pulk (low-slung boatlike sled, used for man-hauling supplies across snow and ice)
• aktionsartA property of verbs and other predicates indicating internal temporal nature; lexical aspect.
• AkzentumsprungA type of development of certain diphthongs, especially in Anglo-Frisian, that was traditionally explained as the shifting of prominence from the first component of the diphthong to the second, that is, a change from a falling diphthong to a rising one.
• alampyabnormal bluish pigmentation in fish, caused by lack of guanine
• albumblattA short instrumental composition, usually performed on the piano and light in character.
• algolagniaA physical condition that causes a person to gain sexual pleasure by suffering pain, particularly to erogenous zones.
• alkaptonhomogentisic acid
• alpenstockA stout adjustable walking stick with a metal point, used by mountain climbers and walkers in hilly or uneven terrain.
• alpenstockerA mountain-climber, especially one that uses an alpenstock.
• altbierA form of German top-fermenting beer that originated in Westphalia and later spread to parts of the Rhineland.
• AltenhofenA surname from German.
• amarelleAny of several cherries cultivated from the sour cherry, distinguished from morellos by colorless juice.
• amautiAn Inuit parka designed to carry a small child.
• amelcornAny of several types of awned wheat having a high starch content, especially emmer (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum).
• AmtmannAn official in German-speaking countries of Europe in the Middle Ages, similar to a bailiff.
• AnackerA surname from German.
• AnderleA surname from German.
• AnglistSynonym of Anglicist.
• anglisticsSynonym of English studies.
• anlautThe first sound of a word (word-initial position) or syllable (syllable-initial position).
• anocracyA political system which is neither fully democratic nor fully autocratic, often being vulnerable to political instability.
• anschauungSense-perception.
• anti-SemiteSomeone with anti-Semitic views.
• apfelstrudelapple strudel
• apomixisPlant reproduction without fertilization.
• AppelhansA surname.
• AriosophyAn esoteric ideological system pioneered by Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, based around paganism and the Aryan race.
• ArklittenA village, located in what was historically East Prussia and is now Poland; the village is now called Arklity.
• Arlberg PassA mountain pass in Vorarlberg and Tyrol, Austria crossing the Arlberg massif, connecting the state of Vorarlberg and the Klostertal in the west with the state of Tyrol and the Stanzer Tal in the east; it was traditionally used as a mule track for salt trading before being paved and receiving motorized traffic; the traffic brought by the rise of tourism in the region eventually became too heavy for the pass to bear, so the Arlberg Road Tunnel was built to bypass the massif.
• ArysFormer name of Orzysz: a town located in what was historically East Prussia and is now in Pisz County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland.
• AschoffA surname from German.
• AsimusA surname from German.
• astrakaniteAn evaporite consisting of a mixed sodium and magnesium sulphate.
• AuernheimerA surname from German.
• aufbau principleThe rule stating that, in the ground state of an atom or ion, electrons fill subshells of the lowest available energy, followed by subshells of higher energy.
• Auf der MaurA Swiss surname from German.
• aufeisNaled (sheet-like layered mass of ice).
• AufhebungSynonym of sublation.
• AufklärerA thinker of the Aufklärung or Enlightenment.
• auflaufA German soufflé or other (often layered) baked dish.
• auf WiedersehenUsed to express farewell.
• aufwuchsThe small animals and plants that encrust hard substrates, such as rocks, in aquatic environments.
• auraticResembling an aura.
• aurochsAn extinct European mammal, Bos primigenius, the ancestor of domestic cattle.
• ausbauConstituting a standard; being deliberately shaped and standardized; having the social, political, or legal status of a standard language.
• ausbruchA kind of very sweet wine, produced especially in Austria, Germany, and Hungary, historically usually made from or with the juice that runs out of grapes without any pressing, and now often made from botrytized grapes (those infected with noble rot).
• auslautSynonym of coda (“the optional final sound of a syllable or word, occurring after its nucleus and usually composed of one or more consonants”).
• AustroasiaticOf the Austroasiatic languages, a major language family spoken in parts of Southeast Asia, India and the Nicobar Islands.
• autologicalPossessing the property it describes.
• autotomyThe spontaneous removal of a limb, tail etc, especially by some invertebrates as a self-defense mechanism.
• Auto UnionAuto Union AG, a German former automobile manufacturer (1932-48).
• BaadenA surname from German.
• BaatzA surname from German.
• BablerA surname from German.
• backfischA teenage or late-adolescent girl.
• backpfeifengesichtA punchable face, or someone with such a face.
• Bad DürkheimA spa town and rural district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
• Baden-BadenA spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
• BaerbockA surname from German.
• BahlerA surname from German.
• BalsterA surname.
• BarbianA surname from German.
• BarbockA surname from German.
• BarendtA surname from German.
• BärensteinA municipality of Erzgebirgskreis district, Saxony, Germany.
• BarlageA surname from German.
• BarndtA surname from German.
• baroucheA four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with collapsible half-hood, two double seats facing each other, and an outside seat for the driver.
• BartholomayA surname from German.
• Bartmann jugA bellarmine.
• BartnickA surname.
• Basel-LandschaftA canton of Switzerland.
• Basel-StadtA canton of Switzerland.
• basset hornAn alto instrument of the clarinet family, pitched in F below middle C, with a range reaching down to F below that.
• BathkeA surname from German.
• BattenbergerA resident of inhabitant or Battenberg.
• BatzelA surname from German.
• batzenA silver coin minted in Bern, Switzerland from the 15th century until the mid-19th century, equal to 10 rappen.
• BauckeA surname from German.
• BaumgaertnerA surname.
• BaumkuchenA kind of layer cake, traditionally baked on a spit, in which the layers resemble concentric tree rings.
• bauplanA plan of the essential elements of the bodies of a related group of organisms.
• BausermanA surname from German.
• bebungA tremolo effect, such as that produced on the piano by vibratory repetition of a note with sustained use of the pedal.