List of English words of German origin

There are a number of German terms for which there are no useful English equivalents. Because of their usefulness, these terms -- called loan words -- have entered the English lexicon.

This list (and their nearest synonyms) includes:


 * Achtung (attention!), Angst (anxiety)
 * Blitzkrieg (Shock and awe), Bratwurst (sausage)
 * Doppelgänger (unrelated twin)
 * Ersatz (artificial)
 * Festschrift (tribute papers)
 * Gastarbeiter (guest worker), Gemütlich (warmth), Gesamtkunstwerk (comprehensive work), Gestalt (epiphany), Götterdämmerung (twilight of the Gods)
 * Hausfrau (housewife)
 * Kaffeeklatsch (get-together), Kindergarten (nursery)
 * Lebensraum (environment), Leitmotiv (theme)
 * Meister (master)
 * Poltergeist (ghost), Putsch (revolution)
 * Realpolitik (expedient politics)
 * Sauerkraut (sour cabbage), Schadenfreude (sadism), Sturm und Drang (turbulance)
 * Über (ultra)
 * Waldsterben (deforestation), Weltanschauung (worldview), Weltschmerz (ennui), Wunderkind (wonderkid)
 * Zeitgeist (milieu)