ersatz
See also: Ersatz
English
Etymology
Borrowed from German Ersatz (“replacement”); and from the German ersetzen (“to replace”, verb).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 333: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈɛəzæts/, IPA(key): /ˈɜːsæts/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 333: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈɛəɹsɑts/, IPA(key): /ˈɛəɹzɑts/, IPA(key): /ɛəɹˈsɑːts/, IPA(key): /ɛəɹˈzɑːts/, IPA(key): /ˈɝsæts/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 333: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [ɛəɹˈsɑːts]
Audio: (file) - Hyphenation: er‧satz
Adjective
ersatz (comparative more ersatz, superlative most ersatz)
- made in imitation; artificial, especially of a poor quality
- Back then, we could only get ersatz coffee.
- 1923, Arthur Michael Samuel, The Mancroft Essays, Pinchbeck, page 164 (possibly published before in The Saturday Review in 1917–1921):
- In these days of “rolled” gold, electro-plate, and undetectable pearls, it is curious that almost the only honest Ersatz material known to the goldsmith's art should be utterly forgotten.
- 1929, "Zeppelining," Time, 16 Sep.,
- Ersatzgas, Ersatzpfennige. Ersatz has become a brave word in Germany. As a substantive it means War Reparations. As part of compounded words it means substitute.
- 2001, The New Yorker, 15 Oct,
- The avant-garde's opposite number, in Greenberg's scheme, is kitsch, "ersatz culture"—art for capitalism's new man (who turns out to be no different from Fascism's or Communism's new man).
- 2003, The New Yorker, 17 & 24 Feb,
- The NATO visitors watched an ersatz eighteenth-century dance (complete with powdered wigs and simulated copulation) that might have been considered obscene had it not been so amusing.
- 2004, The New Yorker, 31 May,
- The crowd wandered out to a huge party on the ersatz city blocks of the Paramount lot.
- Synonyms: artificial, faux, imitation, knock off, (obsolete) gingerbread
Noun
ersatz (plural ersatzes)
- something made in imitation; an effigy or substitute
- (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
- Synonyms: imitation, knock off
Translations
something made in imitation
|
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
ersatz m (plural ersatz)
Further reading
- “ersatz”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from German
- English terms derived from German
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- French terms borrowed from German
- French terms derived from German
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns