{"id":12092,"date":"2020-10-14T23:00:13","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T23:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12092"},"modified":"2020-10-14T09:15:17","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T09:15:17","slug":"german-mother-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-mother-words\/","title":{"rendered":"German ‘Mother’ Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! In a recent post, I looked at the word Muttermal in detail. Whilst researching that post, it occurred to me how many German words start with the word mother \u2013 die Mutter.<\/em> Some have obvious translations, while others are a little more intriguing. Today I thought I\u2019d give you a handful of these \u2018Mutter words\u2019 to have a look at.<\/p>\n

First off, die Mutter<\/strong> is the official word for mother or mum\/mom in German, but you\u2019ll often hear variations including Mama, Mami, Mutti, Mutterchen, <\/em>and Mutterlein<\/em>. Mutterchen and Mutterlein are diminutives<\/strong>, which you may have spotted from their endings \u2013 \u2018chen\u2019 and \u2018lein\u2019. If you\u2019re not familiar with those yet, you can learn about diminutives here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mutter Words<\/h2>\n

mutterlos<\/strong> \u2013 Motherless<\/p>\n

Das Mutterland<\/strong> \u2013 motherland<\/p>\n

Die Muttersprache<\/strong> \u2013 Mother language\/mother tongue.<\/p>\n

Die M\u00fctterlichkeit<\/strong> \u2013 motherliness. If you are motherly, you\u2019re called\u00a0\u2018m\u00fctterlich<\/strong>\u2019. You can also be gro\u00dfm\u00fctterlich<\/strong> (grandmotherly), or stiefm\u00fctterlich<\/strong> (\u2018step-motherly\u2019), which isn\u2019t actually a good thing; it means \u2018neglectful\u2019!<\/p>\n

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Photo by Bethany Beck on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

Der Muttermund<\/strong> \u2013 This is one of the more interesting ones. Literally \u2018mother mouth\u2019 (der Mund- mouth), der Muttermund is the German word for the cervix.<\/p>\n

Der Mutterkuchen<\/strong> \u2013 Literally \u2018mother cake\u2019 (der Kuchen- cake), this is the German word for the placenta (also called die Plazenta). I have an entire post on pregnancy-related words in German where you can learn more words like these- click here to read it.<\/a><\/p>\n

Die Muttermilch<\/strong> \u2013 Literally \u2018mother milk\u2019 (die Milch-milk), this is the German word for breast milk.<\/p>\n

Das Muttermal<\/strong> \u2013 Literally \u2018mother sign\u2019 (das Mal is an old word for sign), das Muttermal is the German word for a birthmark\/mole. I have an entire post on this word- click here to read more.<\/a><\/p>\n

Der Muttermord<\/strong> \u2013 Matricide. This is another instance where the German language is very literal<\/a>, as this word directly translates to \u2018mother murder\u2019 (der Mord- murder).<\/p>\n

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The feeling of extreme loneliness. Photo by Adrien Olichon on Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

mutterseelenallein<\/strong> \u2013 This interesting little word breaks down into three: Mutter (mother), Seelen (souls), allein (alone). It is a feeling of extreme loneliness, so bad that it feels as though even your mother has left you. Read more on this word here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Die Mutter<\/strong> \u2013 No, I am not repeating myself! Die Mutter is the German word for mother, yes, but the exact same word also means \u2018screw nut\u2019<\/strong> (this is a short form of die Schraubenmutter<\/em>). Due to this meaning, there are several other German words that contain the word Mutter, which have nothing to do with motherhood! These include die Mutternfabrik<\/em> (factory that manufactures screw nuts), and der Mutternschl\u00fcssel<\/em> (wrench\/spanner). There are also many words with \u2018mutter\u2019 as their suffix, including Nutmutter, Vierkantmutter, <\/em>and Sechskantmutter<\/em> \u2013 all different types of screws. Interestingly, the plurals of die Mutter (mother) and die Mutter (screw nut) are different: Die Mutter (mother) becomes die M\u00fctter<\/em> when plural, while die Mutter (screw nut) becomes die Muttern<\/em> when plural.<\/p>\n

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Not your mother. But a mother. Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash.<\/p><\/div>\n

Can you think of any other words that start or end with the word Mutter in German? How about ones that start or end with der Vater \u2013 father? Let me know in the comments below!<\/p>\n

Bis bald (see you soon)!<\/p>\n

Constanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! In a recent post, I looked at the word Muttermal in detail. Whilst researching that post, it occurred to me how many German words start with the word mother \u2013 die Mutter. Some have obvious translations, while others are a little more intriguing. Today I thought I\u2019d give you a handful of these…<\/p>\n

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