Putz

See also: putz

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Putz or Pütz.

Proper noun

Putz (plural Putzes)

1. A surname from German.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Putz is the 14636^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2033 individuals. Putz is most common among White (96.8%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Putz”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.

German

Gebäudeputz (1)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʊt͡s/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Putz
• Homophone: Putts

Etymology 1

Related to putzen, unknown as for its derivation beyond German.

• perhaps related to Batzen (“clump as shaped to the hand”) also of unknown etymology
• perhaps onomatopoeia, like Batzen
• perhaps putzen is a causative form of besser, as in older language and dialects the beginning consonant is often ⟨b⟩.

Noun

Putz m (strong, genitive Putzes, plural Putze)

1. plaster, render applied to buildings (mixture for coating walls and ceilings)
2. (dated) one's groomed appearance, including jewelry and accessories

   Hyponym: Kopfputz

   • 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Vor dem Thor”, in Faust: Der Tragödie erster Teil [Faust, Part One]‎^[1]:

     Ein starkes Bier, ein beizender Toback, / Und eine Magd im Putz das ist nun mein Geschmack.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (military) decoration, awards

Declension

Declension of Putz [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Putz	die	Putze
genitive	eines	des	Putzes	der	Putze
dative	einem	dem	Putz, Putze1	den	Putzen
accusative	einen	den	Putz	die	Putze

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• auf den Putz hauen

Etymology 2

From the verb putzen.

Noun

Putz m (strong, genitive Putzes, no plural)

1. cleaning

Declension

Declension of Putz [sg-only, masculine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Putz
genitive	eines	des	Putzes
dative	einem	dem	Putz, Putze1
accusative	einen	den	Putz

¹Now rare, see notes.

Hyponyms

• Frühjahrsputz
• Hausputz

Further reading

• “Putz” in Duden online
• “Putz” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Putz” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• Putz (Baustoff) on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• Putz (Bauteil) on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de