Wirt

English

Proper noun

Wirt

1. A surname.

Derived terms

• Wirt County

Anagrams

• ITRW, writ

German

Etymology

From Middle High German wirt, wiert, wurt, wert, from Old High German wirt (“host”), from Proto-Germanic *werduz. Cognate with English ward, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌳𐌿𐍃 (wairdus), Dutch waard, Danish vært and Swedish värd. The sense “caretaker; someone responsible”, which is found in compounds, developed from the sense of “host; innkeeper” due to the latter's responsibilities for his guests. However, in many cases this use is based on a backformation from Wirtschaft (“economy”), particularly in academic titles like Betriebswirt, Volkswirt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɪʁt/, [vɪʁt], [vɪɐ̯t]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Wirt m (strong, genitive Wirtes or Wirts, plural Wirte, feminine Wirtin)

1. pubkeeper; innkeeper
2. (dated) host (someone who receives a guest)

   Synonym: Gastgeber

3. (biology) host (organism infested with a parasite)
4. (only in compounds) agent; caretaker; someone responsible or knowledgeable

Declension

Declension of Wirt [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Wirt	die	Wirte
genitive	eines	des	Wirtes, Wirts	der	Wirte
dative	einem	dem	Wirt, Wirte1	den	Wirten
accusative	einen	den	Wirt	die	Wirte

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• Betriebswirt
• Kneipenwirt
• Landwirt
• Pferdewirt
• Volkswirt
• Wirtschaft

Proper noun

Wirt m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Wirts or (with an article) Wirt, feminine genitive Wirt, plural Wirts)

1. a surname

Further reading

• “Wirt” in Duden online
• “Wirt” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache