◆ Lexicon
A working lexicon of West Germanic memory.
A curated record of words attested in elder voices across Dutch, Afrikaans, German, English, and West Frisian. Some are genuinely vanishing — words a 75-year-old uses naturally that a 25-year-old has to ask about. Others are alive but illuminating: words that travel between languages, words with no clean equivalent, words that have quietly displaced their predecessors.
◆
Backfisch
/ˈbakˌfɪʃ/
noun
Teenage girl, especially one between 13 and 18; literally 'fish for baking/frying'. A 19th–early 20th-century German...
extinct
DE
bessie / bessien
/ˈbɛ.si/ /ˈbɛ.siən/
noun
Grandmother; dialectal Limburgish/Brabantish and also Urker term of address or reference for grandmother, displaced...
vanishing
NL
boer
/buːr/
noun
Farmer, peasant; (historical, capitalised) Afrikaner settler of Dutch descent in South Africa; (South African...
politically loaded
NL
AF
EN
bûsdoek
/ˈbuːs.duːk/
noun
Handkerchief. West Frisian: literally 'pocket cloth' (bûs = pocket, doek = cloth). Fading even within...
vanishing
FY
bywoner
/ˈbəi̯.voː.nər/
noun
A landless white tenant who lived and worked on another's farm under a share-cropping or labour arrangement;...
vanishing
AF
deftig
/ˈdɛf.təx/
adjective
Distinguished, respectable, of good standing; (in elder use) dignified, decent, well-bred. In younger speakers'...
displaced
NL
AF
dorp
/dɔrp/
noun
Village, small town; (South African English) a small provincial town, often implying backwardness or insularity.
cross cultural
NL
AF
EN
dwiele
/ˈdwiː.lə/
noun
Dishcloth; floor cloth; rag used for wiping surfaces. Drents and Gronings dialectal equivalent of standard Dutch...
regional
NL
Frauenzimmer
/ˈfʀaʊ̯ənˌtsɪmɐ/
noun
Woman; originally 'the ladies' chamber / women's quarters', then the female court entourage, then (from 17th c.) an...
extinct
DE
Fräulein
/ˈfrɔɪ̯.laɪ̯n/
noun
Miss; an unmarried young woman; formerly the standard German form of address for unmarried women. Officially retired...
extinct
DE
gezellig
/ɣəˈzɛ.ləx/
adjective
Cosily convivial; warmly companionable; characterised by snug sociability — notoriously untranslatable into English.
untranslatable
NL
gort
/ɡɔrt/
noun
Pearl barley; barley groats; barley porridge. A staple grain food that has largely disappeared from Dutch household...
vanishing
NL
Heimat
/ˈhaɪ̯maːt/
noun
Homeland; the place (region, landscape, community) that formed one's identity — carrying emotional depth, belonging,...
politically loaded
DE
Kaffeeklatsch
/ˈkafeˌklatʃ/
noun
An informal afternoon gathering over coffee and gossip; literally 'coffee gossip'. The social ritual itself is...
vanishing
DE
klompen
/ˈklɔm.pə(n)/
noun
Wooden shoes, clogs. Plural of 'klomp'. Once the everyday footwear of Dutch farmers and artisans; now surviving...
displaced
NL
krûd / kruid / kruie
/kryd/ /krœy̯t/ /krœyə/
noun
Herb, pot-herb, medicinal plant; (German) Kraut also means 'cabbage' and is the source of the English 'sauerkraut'.
vanishing
NL
AF
DE
FY
lekker
/ˈlɛkər/
adjective
Tasty, delicious; pleasant, nice, enjoyable; (South African English loan) good, great.
cross cultural
NL
AF
EN
mardy
/ˈmɑː.di/
adjective
Spoilt, sulky, whining, easily upset; (of a child) soft, pampered. East Midlands and Yorkshire dialect. Widely...
regional
EN
mither
/ˈmɪð.ə/
verb
To bother, pester, nag, fuss; to make an unnecessary nuisance of oneself; (intransitive) to moan, ramble, or talk...
regional
EN
mof
/mɔf/
noun
(Dutch, derogatory) A derogatory term for a German person, especially in post-WWII Dutch usage. This entry is...
vanishing
NL
nesh
/nɛʃ/
adjective
Unusually sensitive to cold; soft, weak, tender; (of food) soft or succulent. Northern England dialect (Yorkshire,...
regional
EN
oma / opa
/ˈoː.maː/ /ˈoː.paː/
noun
Grandmother / grandfather; informal Dutch and German kinship terms that displaced the older compound forms in...
displaced
NL
AF
DE
pake / beppe
/paːkə/ /ˈbɛpə/
noun
Pake: grandfather (West Frisian). Beppe: grandmother (West Frisian). Frisian-specific kinship terms; the everyday...
vanishing
FY
plaas
/plɑːs/
noun
Farm, agricultural homestead (Afrikaans); distinct from the Dutch 'plaats' (place, spot).
cross cultural
AF
Schmöker
/ˈʃmøː.kɐ/
noun
A thick, entertaining but not particularly literary book; a page-turner, trashy novel, potboiler. Colloquial German;...
vanishing
DE
siepel
/ˈsiː.pəl/
noun
Onion. Low Saxon dialectal word used across the Dutch northeast (Drenthe, Groningen, Twente, Stellingwerfs) where...
regional
NL
stil / still / stille
/stɪl/
adjective
Still, quiet, silent; motionless; (as adverb) without sound or movement. Shared across English, Dutch, German,...
vanishing
NL
AF
DE
EN
FY
trapsuutjies
/ˈtrap.sœː.cis/
adverb
Slowly, carefully, step by step; literally 'tread softly (little steps)'. Used by elder Afrikaans speakers as an...
vanishing
AF
tsjerne
/ˈtsjɛr.nə/
noun
Butter churn. West Frisian word for the vessel and process of churning cream into butter; the object has virtually...
vanishing
FY
vuil
/vœy̯l/
adjective
Dirty, soiled; foul; (figuratively) obscene or dishonourable.
cross cultural
NL
AF
windvoel
/ˈvɪnt.fuːl/
noun
Vagabond, drifter, restless wanderer; literally 'wind-bird'. An archaic Afrikaans pejorative/descriptive for a...
vanishing
AF
witvoetjie soek
/ˈvɪt.fuː.ci ˌsuːk/
idiom
To curry favour; to ingratiate oneself; to seek someone's approval by flattery or servility. Literally 'to seek the...
vanishing
AF
NL
32 entries