16 Funny German Nouns
German nouns can be one of several things: They can be extremely long, because unlike English, compound nouns are spelled as one word, and sometimes a noun is a “compound” of many other nouns. But they can also be very funny, especially when we look at their literal translation.
Here are some examples of some funny German nouns:
1. der Geldbeutel
literal: “the money bag/pouch”
meaning: the wallet
2. die Lebensmittel
literal: “the life means”
meaning: the food
3. das Ausland
literal: “the out country”
meaning: the foreign country
4. der Weltraum
literal: “the world room/space”
meaning: outer space
5. der Augapfel
literal: “the eye apple”
meaning: the eyeball
6. die Ohrfeige
literal: “the ear fig”
meaning: the slap in the face
7. de Purzelbaum
literal: “the tumble tree”
meaning: the somersault
8. die Götterspeise
literal: “the gods’ food”
meaning: the jello
9. der Löwenzahn
literal: “the lion tooth”
meaning: the dandelion
10. die Brotzeit
literal: “the bread time”
meaning: the snack
11. die (Sechskant)Mutter
literal: “the (six edge) mother”
meaning: the hex nut
12. das Eigelb
literal: “the egg yellow”
meaning: the egg yolk
13. der Zebrastreifen
literal: “the zebra strip”
meaning: the crosswalk
14. der Nachtisch
literal: “the after table”
meaning: the dessert
15. die Baumschule
literal: “the tree school”
meaning: the nursery
16. das Frischhaltefolie
literal: “the fresh keeping film/foil”
meaning: the cling wrap
Check out more of our basic German course content.
