Graupel

German

Graupel

Etymology

16th century. From Graupe (“hulled grain”) +‎ -el (diminutive suffix). Graupe is from Slavic, where the senses “hulled grain” and “hail” are both present. Compare Polish krupa, Czech kroupa, Serbo-Croatian krupa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡʁaʊ̯pəl/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Grau‧pel

Noun

Graupel f (genitive Graupel, plural Graupeln) or
Graupel (sometimes informally) m (strong, genitive Graupels, plural Graupel)

1. (meteorology) graupel; soft hail

   Synonym: Griesel

Usage notes

• The word was originally a feminine referring to a single flake of graupel and hence chiefly used in the plural Graupeln. However, the unchanged form Graupel has now become predominant. It may be construed as a plural, a feminine singular, or—at least informally—a masculine singular (on the model of words like Hagel, Regen, Schnee). The ambiguity is often circumvented by using the compound Graupelschauer.

Declension

Declension of Graupel [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Graupel	die	Graupeln
genitive	einer	der	Graupel	der	Graupeln
dative	einer	der	Graupel	den	Graupeln
accusative	eine	die	Graupel	die	Graupeln

Declension of Graupel [masculine (sometimes informally), strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Graupel	die	Graupel
genitive	eines	des	Graupels	der	Graupel
dative	einem	dem	Graupel	den	Graupeln
accusative	einen	den	Graupel	die	Graupel

Derived terms

• graupeln
• Graupelschauer

Descendants

• → English: graupel

Further reading

• Graupel on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• “Graupel” in Duden online
• “Graupel” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache