Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

LOVE

German word of the day: Der Kosename

My mouse, my bunny, my boyfriend? It seems that Austrians take pet names very literally.

Published: 11 February 2020 15:39 CET
Updated: 2 February 2023 17:12 CET

German word of the day: Der Kosename

A 'love lock'/'Liebesschloss' hanging from a bridge in Munich. Photo: DPA

What does it mean?

Despite their reputation for being somewhat reserved when it comes to dramatic expressions of love, Austrians are committed to using pet names with their romantic partners.

The word for these names in German is Der Kosename, the pet name, or Die Kosenamen in plural. This word comes from the verb kosen, which means to snuggle or to caress. Another word popularly used is Spitznamen, which means nicknames.

Some of the most popular include:

Mein Schatz(i): literally “my treasure trove” but also “my darling, sweetie, precious”

Die Maus/Das Mäuschen: “the mouse/little mouse”

Der Hase/Das Häschen: “the rabbit/bunny”

Der Kuschelbär: using a similar verb kuscheln, “to cuddle,” this means “cuddle bear”

Based on this list, it appears that Austrians like to call their partners names resembling actual pets, taking the phrase pet names to a new level.

In Austria, nicknames for a loved one are more common among younger generations. About one-third of 18 to 29 year olds understand the pet names as a sign of affection and use them to express intimacy, according to an ORF report.

Example Sentences:

Es ist zu süß für mich, wenn die Österreicher Kosename für ihre Liebhaber verwenden.

It is too sweet for me when the Austrians use pet names for their lovers.

“Was sind eure Kosenamen füreinander?” Er nennt mich sein Mäuschen und ich nenne ihn meinen Schatz.“

What are your pet names for each other?” He calls me his little mouse, and I call him my darling.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Ask a German: Do you ever forget the gender of words?

For lots of non-natives, speaking German is a bit like a lottery: when you are not 100 percent sure about the article of a German word, you take a guess. And you have a one in three chance of getting it right.

But knowing whether a singular noun is der (masculine), die (feminine) or das (neutral) is key to developing your language skills in order to construct fuller sentences. Think of it like the foundations: you need to learn the gender of the word as well as the word itself so you can build the rest of your German language house.

But do native German speakers always know whether a word is der, die or das?

Berlin-based German teacher Seraphine Peries told The Local that although German speakers tend to know intuitively what the article of most nouns are because they learn them while growing up, they “definitely” have doubts.

“German native speakers make a lot of mistakes when it comes to certain words,” said Peries. “For example, the word ‘Email’ is feminine in German: die Email. But the further you go south of Germany, they use the neutral form: das Email. So there’s a bit of a discussion about that, it’s a regional thing.”

Peries said there are lots of debates on the gender of English words that been transported into German, as well as newer words.

She also said product names provoke discussion. One of the most famous is Nutella.

“A lot of people say die Nutella because it’s like the Italian ella, but others say der Nutella because they think of the German word der Aufstrich, which means ‘spread’. And then there are people who say das Nutella because it’s a foreign word so they say it must be das.”

Although the makers of Nutella have never revealed the gender of the word so perhaps everyone is right in this case.

And then there are the words that change their meaning depending on the article that definitely confuse natives (as well as foreigners, no doubt).

“A few words in German are known as Genuswechsel (gender change),” said Peries. “These are words that change their meaning when they change gender.”

Peries highlighted the word der Verdienst, which means earnings or income, and das Verdienst, which means merit or credit.

So you could say:

Der Verdienst für die Stelle war zu niedrig.

The income for the job was too low

OR

Es ist das Verdienst der Eltern, dass das Kind so gut erzogen ist.

It is to the credit of the parents that the child is so well brought up.

Url copied to clipboard!