Treppenwitz

German

Etymology

From Treppe (“stairs, steps”) +‎ -n- +‎ Witz (“wit”), a calque of French esprit de l'escalier.

Pronunciation

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Noun

Treppenwitz m (strong, genitive Treppenwitzes, plural Treppenwitze)

1. (fairly rare) staircase wit; l'esprit de l'escalier; a remark or rejoinder thought of only when it is too late
2. (more common) an ironic and absurd coincidence; something that, if it were not true, would seem like a bad joke

   ein Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichte ― an irony of world history

Declension

Declension of Treppenwitz [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Treppenwitz	die	Treppenwitze
genitive	eines	des	Treppenwitzes	der	Treppenwitze
dative	einem	dem	Treppenwitz, Treppenwitze1	den	Treppenwitzen
accusative	einen	den	Treppenwitz	die	Treppenwitze

¹Now uncommon, see notes.

Further reading

• “Treppenwitz” in Duden online