Meanings
herrenvolk1
plural herrenvolks · plural herrenvolker · alternative Herrenvolk
- A master race, especially with reference to Nazi ideology.First known use 20th c.
In their position halfway between the blacks and the white Herrenvolk, they are bound to be unstable, they are petty bourgeois to the core, all of them.
1995 [1954], Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial, page 591 more example
The political system that was emerging has been aptly described as a 'Herrenvolk democracy', a formally democratic political system in which voting and office holding is limited to members of a dominant ethno-racial group.
2003, George M. Fredrickson, The Historical Construction of Race and Citizenship in the United States^(https://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/8A0AE7EACD11F278C1256DD6004860EA/$file/Fredrick.pdf), page 14
Herrenvolk2
plural Herrenvolks · plural Herrenvolker
- Alternative letter-case form of herrenvolk.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna race that considers itself superior to all others and fitted to rule the others
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- GermanHerrenvolk
- Englishherrenvolk
From German Herrenvolk, from Herr (“lord, master, gentleman”) + -en- + Volk (“folk, people”).
More words from German
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
herrenvolk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herrenvolk
“herrenvolk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herrenvolk. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “herrenvolk,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/herrenvolk.
Source: herrenvolk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.