◆ 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.
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bessie / bessien
/ˈbɛ.si/ /ˈbɛ.siən/
noun
Grandmother; dialectal Limburgish/Brabantish and also Urker term of address or reference for grandmother, displaced...
vanishing
NL
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
gort
/ɡɔrt/
noun
Pearl barley; barley groats; barley porridge. A staple grain food that has largely disappeared from Dutch household...
vanishing
NL
Kaffeeklatsch
/ˈkafeˌklatʃ/
noun
An informal afternoon gathering over coffee and gossip; literally 'coffee gossip'. The social ritual itself is...
vanishing
DE
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
mof
/mɔf/
noun
(Dutch, derogatory) A derogatory term for a German person, especially in post-WWII Dutch usage. This entry is...
vanishing
NL
pake / beppe
/paːkə/ /ˈbɛpə/
noun
Pake: grandfather (West Frisian). Beppe: grandmother (West Frisian). Frisian-specific kinship terms; the everyday...
vanishing
FY
Schmöker
/ˈʃmøː.kɐ/
noun
A thick, entertaining but not particularly literary book; a page-turner, trashy novel, potboiler. Colloquial German;...
vanishing
DE
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
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
14 entries