Irrtum

German

Alternative forms

• Irrthum (superseded)

Etymology

From Middle High German irretuom, from Old High German irrituom. Equivalent to irren (“to wander”) +‎ -tum. Related to English error via the same Proto-Indo-European root (though the English is borrowed from the Italic cognate).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪʁtʊm/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Irr‧tum

Noun

Irrtum m (strong, genitive Irrtumes or Irrtums, plural Irrtümer)

1. error, mistake

   Synonym: Fehler

Declension

Declension of Irrtum [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Irrtum	die	Irrtümer
genitive	eines	des	Irrtumes, Irrtums	der	Irrtümer
dative	einem	dem	Irrtum, Irrtume1	den	Irrtümern
accusative	einen	den	Irrtum	die	Irrtümer

¹Now rare, see notes.

Related terms

• irren
• irreführend
• irrtümlich

Further reading

• Irrtum on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• “Irrtum”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “Irrtum” in Duden online
• “Irrtum” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Irrtum”, in PONS (in German), Stuttgart: PONS GmbH, 2001–2026