List of terms used for Germans

Dutch

Initially, the word Dutch could refer to any Germanic-speaking area, language, or people, derived from the Proto-Germanic þiudiskaz, meaning belonging to or being part of the people. For example:

The phrase "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a corruption of the German word for German, Deutsch. To this day, descendants of German immigrants who resettled in Pennsylvania continue to refer to themselves as Pennsylvania Dutch or Pennsylvania German. Some may or may not be members of the plain people found in southcentral-southeastern Pennsylvania, such as the Mennonites or the Amish.

Today, aside from that exception, the word "Dutch" is only used to refer to the Dutch people or the Dutch language.

Hun (pejorative)

Hun (or The Hun) is a term used in reference to the pre-medieval Hunnic Empire of Attila. This term was used heavily during World War I and was often seen on Allied war posters.

The origin of the term was a reference to Attila the Hun in Wilhelm II's notorious "Hun speech" (Hunnenrede) delivered on 27 July 1900, when he bade farewell to the German expeditionary corps sailing from Bremerhaven to defeat the Boxer Rebellion. The relevant part of the speech was:

Kommt ihr vor den Feind, so wird derselbe geschlagen! Pardon wird nicht gegeben! Gefangene werden nicht gemacht! Wer euch in die Hände fällt, sei euch verfallen! Wie vor tausend Jahren die Hunnen unter ihrem König Etzel sich einen Namen gemacht, der sie noch jetzt in Überlieferung und Märchen gewaltig erscheinen läßt, so möge der Name Deutsche in China auf 1000 Jahre durch euch in einer Weise bestätigt werden, daß es niemals wieder ein Chinese wagt, einen Deutschen scheel anzusehen!

When you meet the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! No prisoners will be taken! Those who fall into your hands are forfeit to you! Just as a thousand years ago, the Huns under their King Etzel made a name for themselves which shows them as mighty in tradition and myth, so shall you establish the name of Germans in China for 1000 years, in such a way that a Chinese will never again dare to look askance at a German.

The theme of Hunnic savagery was then developed in a speech of August Bebel in the Reichstag in which he recounted details of the cruelty of the German expedition which were taken from soldiers' letters home, styled the Hunnenbriefe (letters from the Huns).

The Kaiser's speech was widely reported in the European press and then became the basis for the characterisation of the Germans during World War I as barbarians and savages with no respect for European civilisation and humanitarian values.

By coincidence, the Wehrmacht belt buckle bore the inscription Gott mit uns. This contributed to the popularization of Hun as British Army slang for German.

Fritz

British soldiers employed a variety of epithets for the Germans. "Fritz", a German pet form of Friedrich, was popular in both World War I and World War II, with "Jerry", short for "German", but also modeled on the English name, favoured in the latter.

Heinie (pejorative)

The Americans and Canadians referred to Germans, especially German soldiers, as "Heinies", from a diminutive of the common German male proper name Heinrich.

For example, in the film 1941 the Slim Pickens character calls a German officer "Mr Hynee Kraut!"

Heini is a common German colloquial term with a slightly pejorative meaning similar to "moron" or "idiot", but it could be of different origin.

Hermann

Alongside Fritz, Hans, and Jerry, World War II era American servicemen sometimes called their German counterparts Hermann. Hitler's second-in-command was Hermann Göring, so it was concluded that Hermann was a common name for Germans – indeed it is an ancient German name, popular until 1945. Additionally, the name was used to highlight the Germans' alleged savagery, because Hermann was the name of an ancient barbarian chieftain responsible for defeating the Romans at Teutoburg Forest.

Jerry (pejorative)

Jerry was a nickname given to Germans during the Second World War by soldiers and civilians of the Allied nations, in particular by the British. The nickname was originally created during World War I, but it did not find common use until World War II.

The name Jerry was probably derived from the stahlhelm introduced in 1916, which was said by British soldiers to resemble a chamber pot or Jeroboam. Alternatively, it may be a simple alteration of the word German. One ongoing use of "Jerry" is found in the term jerrycan.

Kraut (pejorative)

Since World War II, Kraut has come to be used in the English language as a pejorative term for a German. This is probably based on sauerkraut, which is popular in various South German cuisines but not traditionally prepared in North Germany. The stereotype of the sauerkraut-eating German pre-dates this, as it appears in Jules Verne's depiction of the evil German industrialist Schultze as an avid sauerkraut eater in The Begum's Fortune. Schultze's antagonist is an Alsatian who hates sauerkraut but pretends to love it to win his enemy's confidence.

"Kraut" may refer to the practice of distributing sauerkraut on German ships to prevent scurvy just as the English were referred to as limeys by Americans for their use of lime juice in navy ships.

The rock music genre krautrock has been commonplace in music journalism since the early 1970s and is of English invention; it is not considered pejorative.

Teuton (poetic)

In a more poetical sense Germans can be referred to as "Teutons". The usage of the word in this term has been observed in English since 1833. The word originated via an ancient Germanic tribe, the Teutons (see also Teutonic and the Teutonic Order).

Boche (pejorative)

Pronounced [boʃ], boche is a derisive term used by the Allies during World War I, often collectively ("the Boche" meaning "the Germans"). It is shortened form of the French slang portmanteau alboche, itself derived from Allemand ("German") and caboche ("head" or "cabbage"). The alternative spellings "Bosch" or "Bosche" are sometimes found. According to a 1916 article in the New York Times magazine Current History, the origin is as follows:

Boche is an abbreviation of caboche, (compare bochon, an abbreviation of cabochon). This is a recognized French word used familiarly for "head," especially a big, thick head, ("slow-pate"). It is derived from the Latin word caput and the suffix oceus. Boche seems to have been used first in the underworld of Paris about 1860, with the meaning of a disagreeable, troublesome fellow. In the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 it was not applied to the Germans, but soon afterward it was applied by the Parisian printers to their German assistants because of the reputed slowness of comprehension of these foreign printers. The epithet then used was tête de boche, which had the meaning of tête carrée d'Allemand (German blockhead or imbécile). The next step was to apply boche to Germans in general.

Piefke (pejorative)

The Austrian ethnic slur for a German is Piefke. Like its Bavarian counterpart Saupreiß (literally: sow-Prussian), the term Piefke historically characterized the people of Prussia only. There are two hypotheses how the term developed; both of them are suggesting an origin in the 1860s. One theory suggests that the term originated in the popularity of the Prussian composer Johann Gottfried Piefke, who composed some of the most iconic German military marches, such as Preußens Gloria or the Königgrätzer Marsch. He and his brother were conducting the music corps in Austria during the parade after the Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. The second theory suggests an origin in the Second Schleswig War in 1864, where Prussians and Austrians were Allies. A Prussian soldier with the name Piefke with a stereotypically Prussian gruff and snappy behaviour had such a negative impression on his Austrian comrades, that the term was coined on all Prussians as a result.

Since Prussia ceased to exist, the term now refers to the cliché of a pompous (Protestant northern) German in general and a Berliner in particular. However, the citizens of the free Hanseatic cities and the former northern duchies of Oldenburg, Brunswick and Mecklenburg are also quite offended by the terms Piefke and Saupreiß (offensive for every German who is not native Bavarian). In 1990, Austrian playwright Felix Mitterer wrote and co-directed a TV mini-series, Die Piefke-Saga, about Germans on holiday in Tyrol. Sometimes the alteration "Piefkinese" is used. Some Austrians use the playful term "Piefkinesisch" (Pief-Chinese) to refer to German spoken in a distinctly northern German (not Austrian) accent.

Marmeladinger (pejorative)

The term Marmeladinger originated in the trenches of World War I. It is derived from the German word "Marmelade", which is a fruit preserve. While Austrian infantry rations included butter and lard as spread, German troops had to make do with cheaper "Marmelade" as ersatz. They disdainfully called it Heldenbutter "hero's butter" or Hindenburgfett. This earned them ridicule from their Austrian allies who would call them Marmeladebrüder (jam brothers) or Marmeladinger (-inger being an Austrian derivational suffix describing a person through a characteristic item or action). Germans would conversely call Austrians Kamerad Schnürschuh "comrade lace-up shoe" because the Austrian infantry boots used laces while the German boots did not. This term has survived, but it is rarely used.

Jiamen (colloquial)

In Shanghainese, a German can be colloquially called a Jiamen (茄門/茄门), which is a corruption of the English word "German".

This word carries a somewhat negative meaning of a stereotypical German being proud, withdrawn, cold and serious. Today, this phrase, when pronounced as "Ga-Men", can mean "disdainful, indifferent, or uninterested in someone or something".

Czech Republic and Slovakia

In Czech and Slovak, a German can be called a Skopčák (skopchāk), originally meaning just someone from the highlands (of the Sudeten mountains). Due to the negative perception of the Sudeten Germans' role in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia in 1938-9, it is generally perceived negatively, relating to rough and stupid manners ascribed to Germans (skopová hlava - muttonhead).

Finland

During the Lapland War between Finland and Germany, the terms saku, sakemanni, hunni and lapinpolttaja (burner of Lapland) became widely used among the Finnish soldiers.

Boches (pejorative, historical)

Boches is an apheresis of the word alboche, which in turn is a blend of allemand (French for German) and caboche (slang for head). It was used mainly during the First and Second World Wars, and directed especially at German soldiers.

Casque à pointe (historical)

Casque à pointe is derived from the French name for the traditional Prussian military helmets worn by German soldiers from the 1840s until World War I. In modern British and American sign language, the word for Germany continues to be an index finger pointed to the top of the forehead, simulating the Pickelhaube.

Chleuh (pejorative)

Chleuh derives from the name of the Chleuh, a Berber ethnic group in Morocco. It also denotes the absence of words beginning in Schl- in French.

Mof (pejorative)

In Dutch the most common term for the German people, after the regular/official one, is "mof". It is regarded as a pejorative term, used exclusively for Germans and reflecting Dutch resentment of the German occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War and the respective German actions. The word "Mofrika" is a portmanteau of Africa and "mof" and is used as a humorous reference to Germany.

In the late 16th century the area now known as East Frisia and Emsland and the people that lived there were referred to as Muffe. At the time the Netherlands was by far the richest country in the whole of Europe, and these people were looked down upon greatly by the Dutch. The area of Western Lower Saxony was at that time very poor and a good source for many Dutch people looking for cheap labour. The inhabitants of this region were regarded as being rather reserved and were often described as grumpy, rude and unsophisticated by the Dutch. Later the term was used to describe the whole of Germany, which, at the time, was not much better off economically than Western Lower Saxony, mainly due to the various wars waged on its territory by foreign powers. The term seemed to have died out around 1900, but returned after the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

A popular humorous (but false) etymology of the word "mof" by the Dutch is that it is a German abbreviation meaning Menschen ohne Freunde ("people without friends").

Spain

In Early Modern Spanish (for example in Don Quixote), tudesco (cognate with Deutsch and the Italian tedesco) was used sometimes as a general name for Germans and sometimes restricted to Lower Saxony.

Crucco (pejorative)

This word, "crucco", derived from the Slovenian kruh ("bread"). Italian soldiers invented this word during World War I when they captured some hungry Austrian-Slovenian soldiers who asked for kruh. Later, during World War II, it was applied to German people.

Fricis

Fricis derives from the German name Fritz.

Zili Pelēkie

Zili pelēkie', literally translated, means "The Blue-Grays", from the Prussian war uniforms of the pre-World War I era.

Gummihals (pejorative)

German for rubber-neck. The term has been verified to be in use since the 1970s at least. Its actual meaning is subject to debate. Theories include the stereotype of Germans talking too much or nodding their heads endlessly when listening to superiors.

Schwab (pejorative)

The ordinary (non-pejorative) meaning is people from Swabia (roughly Baden-Wurtemberg) in South Germany, neighbouring Switzerland, but in Switzerland it is used for any German. A strengthening is Sauschwabe.

Szkop (pejorative)

Contemptuous term for a German, especially a soldier of the Wehrmacht during World War II. In the past, the word szkop in the Polish language meant a castrated ram.

Szwab (pejorative)

Another popular term, originally meaning a person from Swabia. It is worth noting that a colloquial verb "oszwabić" means "to rook", "to fleece".

Other terms

pejorative term for a German (and, stereotypically, unattractive) woman is "niemra", coming from a word "Niemka" (a woman of German nationality). This term can also mean a female German language teacher or German language classes. Similarly, the term for the Germans can be "niemiaszki". It does not have to be pejorative, it may be permissive or irrevent, but it may also be used in an almost caressing way. Another pejorative term for a German is "szołdra" (plural: "szołdry"). However, it is an old Polish term, out of use nowadays. It can be found in 19th century historical novels by Henryk Sienkiewicz and Józef Ignacy Kraszewski. It probably comes from a term meaning pig or pork ham.

Švabo, Švaba (pejorative)

Term Švabo (Cyrillic: Швабо) is most often used in jokes but also very popularly used by the Yugoslav Partisans during the Second World War. In SFR Yugoslavia it was commonly used in the movies depicting the battles betweens the Partisans and Nazi forces. The word in its origin is not pejorative since it is used to depict a person from the German region of Swabia; however, the word probably entered the Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian language in relation to the Danube Swabians. The variant Švaba (Шваба) is primarily used in Serbian language. Female form is Švabica (Швабица).

Ossi/Wessi

The term "Ossi", derived from the German word Osten which means east, is used in Germany for people who were born or live in the area of the former German Democratic Republic.

The term "Wessi", derived from the German word Westen which means west, is used in Germany for people who were born or live in the old states of Germany (those that formed the Federal Republic or "West Germany" before reunification). Sometimes it is also modified to "Besserwessi", from the German word Besserwisser which means Know-it-all, which reflects the stereotype that people from the Western part of Germany are arrogant.

In 2010 there was a lawsuit in Germany because a job applicant was denied employment and her application was found to have the notation "Ossi" and a minus sign written on her application documents. A German court decided that denial of employment for such a reason would be discrimination, but not ethnic discrimination, since "East German" is not an ethnicity.