Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A feeling for language; an ear for the idiomatically correct or appropriate.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative form of
Sprachgefühl .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[German : Sprache, language (from Middle High German sprāche, from Old High German sprāhha) + Gefühl, feeling (from fühlen, to feel, from Middle High German vuelen, from Old High German vuolen; see pāl- in Indo-European roots).]
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sprachgefühl.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
angharad commented on the word sprachgefühl
lit. language feeling: "an ear for idiomatically appropriate language"
http://wordsmith.org/words/sprachgefuhl.html
December 2, 2006
adoarns commented on the word sprachgefühl
Love how so many old-skool linguistic terms are from DEU.
December 18, 2007
ofravens commented on the word sprachgefühl
This is the most perfect word ever. Why does English not have more words like this?
April 20, 2008
mollusque commented on the word sprachgefühl
Also listed as sprachgefuhl.
April 23, 2008
sionnach commented on the word sprachgefühl
This raises the interesting issue, that words with an umlaut, like this one, automatically must get shafted in the frequency count, since their occurrences are likely to be split over two variants.
April 23, 2008
gangerh commented on the word sprachgefühl
Such a lovely word and meaning and I was going to second it as a Wordie flagship word but you've just identified a handicap, sionnach. So unsuchencumbered schadenfreudgeon then.
April 23, 2008
wytukaze commented on the word sprachgefühl
Actually, they're likely to be split over three variants—the one with the umlaut intact (sprachgefühl), the one without (sprachgefuhl), and the entumlautet (that is to say, de-umlauted) version done ‘correctly’: sprachgefuehl. Quite an issue, then.
November 13, 2008
mcritz commented on the word sprachgefühl
Anything German and/or containing umlauts gets high marks in my book.
November 13, 2008
dontcry commented on the word sprachgefühl
Yöü dön't säÿ?
November 13, 2008
reesetee commented on the word sprachgefühl
They do seem to make words a bit more festive.
November 13, 2008
wytukaze commented on the word sprachgefühl
Festive, or metal? I'm quite fond of the phenomenon that is the heavy metal umlaut. Especially when Germans pronounce the bandnames that have them.
Röck and röll! Bëër! Sëx! Drügs! Dreämy düskywing!
November 13, 2008
reesetee commented on the word sprachgefühl
*pondering*
Nöööö...stïll fëstïvë. ;-)
November 13, 2008
dontcry commented on the word sprachgefühl
�? ägrëë - möst fëstïvë ïndëëd!
November 13, 2008
frindley commented on the word sprachgefühl
Nøw, nøw, døn't discriminåtë ågåinst øther Nørdic diåcriticåls!
November 13, 2008
reesetee commented on the word sprachgefühl
That's not just festive, frindley--that's a veritable carnival!
November 14, 2008