Word origins

• algolagniaA physical condition that causes a person to gain sexual pleasure by suffering pain, particularly to erogenous zones.
• alimentivenessThe state or quality of being alimentive.
• alkaptonhomogentisic acid
• AllenbaughA surname from German.
• AllgyerA surname from German.
• 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.
• alstoniteAn aragonite mineral consisting of an isomorphous mixture of calcium and barium carbonates.
• altbierA form of German top-fermenting beer that originated in Westphalia and later spread to parts of the Rhineland.
• AltenhofenA surname from German.
• always alreadyBy definition or inherently; a priori.
• amarelleAny of several cherries cultivated from the sour cherry, distinguished from morellos by colorless juice.
• amautiAn Inuit parka designed to carry a small child.
• ambitendencyContradictory behaviors exhibited when one is pulled between different choices.
• amelcornAny of several types of awned wheat having a high starch content, especially emmer (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum).
• amino acidAny organic compound containing both an amino and a carboxylic acid functional group.
• AmtmannAn official in German-speaking countries of Europe in the Middle Ages, similar to a bailiff.
• AnackerA surname from German.
• Ancient North ArabianRelated to the Ancient North Arabian script or language(s)
• AnderleA surname from German.
• anglerodfishing rod
• AnglistSynonym of Anglicist.
• anglisticsSynonym of English studies.
• AnisianA subdivision of the Triassic period.
• 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.
• anomaloscopeAn instrument used to test for color blindness by measuring quantitative and qualitative anomalies in color perception.
• anonymous sculptureAny industrial structure whose architecture is thought to have unintended artistic qualities.
• anschauungSense-perception.
• AntelmanA surname from German.
• anticipatory obedienceA situation where one attempts to predict expectations others (particularly superiors) have, without explicit communication, and to fulfill (or exceed) those expectations.
• antikingOne who declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch, especially in an electoral monarchy.
• antipathicCharacterized by antipathy.
• anti-SemiteSomeone with anti-Semitic views.
• anti-semiticRelating to or exhibiting anti-Semitism.
• anti-semitismPrejudice, discrimination, hostility or political or religious opposition directed against ethnic or religious Jews or against Judaism; antijudaism; judeophobia.
• ape-fissureSynonym of Affenspalte.
• apfelstrudelapple strudel
• apomixisPlant reproduction without fertilization.
• AppelhansA surname.
• appresentationThe intentional feature by which something indirectly given to consciousness is experienced as co-present or implied alongside what is directly perceived.
• arcanistA craftsman who has knowledge of a manufacturing secret (specifically in the area of porcelain manufacturing).
• archbutlerA head or chief butler
• archmarshalThe grand marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.
• area stateA state of Germany that is not a city-state.
• 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.
• ArnwineA surname from German.
• art of the possiblepragmatism, realism
• 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.
• assault rifleA military select-fire rifle or carbine that fires an intermediate-power cartridge, from a detachable magazine.
• assertoricStating that which is actual, usually in contrast with modal sentences.
• astrakaniteAn evaporite consisting of a mixed sodium and magnesium sulphate.
• astrognosyKnowledge of the stars, especially the fixed stars; the branch of astronomy dealing with the fixed stars.
• 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.
• augengneissA type of metamorphic rock characterized by large, lenticular mineral grains or crystal aggregates (usually feldspar or quartz grains that have been deformed during metamorphism), resembling eyes, embedded within a finer-grained matrix.
• 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.
• AustrofascismA fascist political movement in Austria between 1933 and 1938, which was subsumed by Nazism on the occurrence of Anschluss (Austria's annexation by Nazi Germany) in 1938.
• autochthonyAn aboriginal condition or state.
• 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).
• Axial AgeThe age from about the 8th to the 3rd century BCE, during which broad changes in religious and philosophical thought occurred in a variety of locations.
• axiom of choiceOne of the axioms of set theory, equivalent to the statement that an arbitrary direct product of non-empty sets is non-empty; any version of said axiom, for example specifying the cardinality of the number of sets from which choices are made.
• AxtmanA surname from German.
• 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 BentheimA town in Grafschaft Bentheim district, Lower Saxony, Germany, near the Dutch border.
• Bad DürkheimA spa town and rural district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
• Baden-BadenA spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
• badger dogSynonym of dachshund (“type of dog”).
• BaerbockA surname from German.
• BaeumlerA surname from German.
• BahlerA surname from German.
• ball lightningA short-lived glowing ball sometimes observed to float in the air and thought to consist of ionized gas associated with thunderstorms.
• balm-cricketAny cicada (Cicadoidea spp.).
• BalsterA surname.
• BarbianA surname from German.
• barbituricOf or pertaining to barbituric acid or its derivatives.
• BarbockA surname from German.
• BarendtA surname from German.