Wirrwarr

German

Etymology

15th-century shortening of Middle High German wirrewarren n, a reduplicative ablauting derivation (cf. Mischmasch) from werren (“to entangle, confuse”), from Old High German werran, from Proto-West Germanic *werʀan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪrvar/, [ˈvɪʁ.vaʁ], [ˈvɪɐ̯.va(ɐ̯)], [ˈʋ...ʋ...]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Wirrwarr m or n (strong, genitive Wirrwarrs, no plural) or rarely Wirrwarr f (genitive Wirrwarr, no plural)

1. confusion, commotion, chaos, jumble, muddle

   Synonyms: Chaos, Durcheinander, Kuddelmuddel, Unordnung, Gewirr, Verwirrung, Wirren

Usage notes

• Wirrwarr is one of a small number of German nouns which can or historically could have all three genders; see the appendix. The masculine and neuter are common today; the feminine is rare.

Declension

Declension of Wirrwarr [sg-only, masculine // neuter // feminine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein, eine	der, das, die	Wirrwarr
genitive	eines, einer	des, der	Wirrwarrs, Wirrwarr
dative	einem, einer	dem, der	Wirrwarr
accusative	einen, ein, eine	den, das, die	Wirrwarr

Derived terms

• Schreibwirrwarr

Related terms

• wirr
• verwirren

Further reading

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