Bürgersteig

German

Etymology

19th century, from Bürger (“citizen”) +‎ Steig (“footpath”). Introduced as a puristic alternative to then-predominant Trottoir (therefore unusual in Switzerland, like other purisms of that era).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʏrɡərˌʃtaɪ̯k/, [ˈbʏʁ.ɡɐˌʃtaɪ̯k], [ˈbʏɐ̯-]
• (northern and central Germany, now chiefly colloquial) IPA^(key): /-ˌʃtaɪ̯ç/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Bürgersteig m (strong, genitive Bürgersteigs or Bürgersteiges, plural Bürgersteige)

1. (especially Germany) pavement/sidewalk (footpath at the side of a street, road)

   Synonyms: (especially Austria) Gehsteig, (especially Switzerland) Trottoir

   Hypernyms: (any footpath) Gehweg, Fußweg, Fußgängerweg

   Auch auf dem Bürgersteig muss man immer die Augen auf halten.

   You always have to keep your eyes open, even on the sidewalk.

Declension

Declension of Bürgersteig [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Bürgersteig	die	Bürgersteige
genitive	eines	des	Bürgersteigs, Bürgersteiges	der	Bürgersteige
dative	einem	dem	Bürgersteig, Bürgersteige1	den	Bürgersteigen
accusative	einen	den	Bürgersteig	die	Bürgersteige

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• die Bürgersteige hochklappen

Further reading

• “Bürgersteig” in Duden online
• “Bürgersteig”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)