zeitgeist

WOTD – 23 October 2006    

See also Zeitgeist

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• Zeitgeist

Etymology

Borrowing from German Zeitgeist (“time-spirit”).

Pronunciation

• (RP)¹ IPA: /ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst/
• (RP)² IPA: /ˈzaɪtɡaɪst/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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Noun

zeitgeist (plural zeitgeists or zeitgeister)

1. The spirit of the age; the taste, outlook, and spirit characteristic of a period.

Synonyms

• spiritus mundi
• temper of the times
• tenor of the times

Translations

the spirit of the age

• Arabic: روح العصر (ar) (ruuH al-3aSr) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 時代精神 (cmn), 时代精神 (cmn) (shídài jīngshén)

• Danish: tidsånd (da)
• Dutch: tijdgeest (nl) m
• Finnish: ajan henki (fi)
• French: esprit de l'époque (fr) m
• German: Zeitgeist (de) m
• Hebrew: צייטגייסט (he) (tsáitgaist)

• Hungarian: korszellem (hu)
• Icelandic: tíðarandi (is) m
• Japanese: 時代精神 (ja) (じだいせいしん, jidai-seishin)
• Luxembourgish: Zäitgeescht (lb) m
• Russian: дух времени (ru) (dux vrémeni) m
• Serbo-Croatian: дух времена (sh) m, duh vremena (sh) m
• Spanish: ánimo de la época (es) m
• Swedish: tidsanda c