Einstand

See also: einstand

German

Etymology

From ein- (“in”) +‎ Stand (“standing, stance”), deverbal from einstehen.

The tennis use derives from the idea of “equilibrium”, from the obsolete phrase die Waage steht ein (“the scales are in balance”, literally “the scales stand in”). Contemporary speakers may in this context reinterpret ein as the unrelated numeral for “one”, by analogy with Gleichstand (“tie”, literally “same-stand”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ̯nˌʃtant/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ein‧stand
• Rhymes: -ant

Noun

Einstand m (strong, genitive Einstandes or Einstands, plural Einstände)

1. first day, start at a new job or position, debut
2. a small party with food and drink traditionally organized by an employee during their first days at work
3. (tennis) deuce
4. (law, obsolete) Synonym of Vorkauf, Vorkaufsrecht (“preemption, right of preemption”)

Declension

Declension of Einstand [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Einstand	die	Einstände
genitive	eines	des	Einstandes, Einstands	der	Einstände
dative	einem	dem	Einstand, Einstande1	den	Einständen
accusative	einen	den	Einstand	die	Einstände

¹Now rare, see notes.

Descendants

• → Hungarian: einstand

Further reading

• “Einstand” in Duden online