Drecksarbeit

German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Dreck (dirt) +‎ -s- +‎ Arbeit (work).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈdʀɛksʔaʁˌbaɪ̯t]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: Drecks‧ar‧beit

Noun

Drecksarbeit f (genitive Drecksarbeit, plural Drecksarbeiten)

  1. (colloquial, derogatory) dirty work
    • 2025 June 17, Friedrich Merz, quotee, “Chancellor Merz: Israel does "dirty work" for all of us”, in ZDFheute Nachrichten[1]; English translation from “'Doing the dirty work for us': Merz praises Israel over Iran attacks”, in CGTN Europe[2], 2025 June 18:
      Das ist die Drecksarbeit, die Israel macht für uns alle.
      This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us.
    • 2025 July 3, Tim Bartz, Martin Hesse, Sara Wess, “Hat der Saubermann die Drecksarbeit erledigt? [Has “Mr. Clean” done the dirty work?]”, in Der Spiegel[3], →ISSN:

Declension

Further reading