Tausend

See also: tausend

German

Etymology

Nominalization of tausend. The interjection is short either for potz tausend Teufel (16th century) or for Middle High German tūsentlisteler, later Tausendkünstler (the devil as a master of a thousand ruses, arts).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈtaʊ̯zənt/, [ˈtaʊ̯.zn̩t]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: Tau‧send

Noun

Tausend n (strong or mixed, genitive Tausends, plural (see usage notes) Tausend or Tausende or Tausenden)

  1. thousand (set or unit of one thousand items)
    ein halbes Tausendhalf a thousand
    Nach dem ersten Tausend habe ich noch zwei weitere Tausend bestellt.
    After the first thousand I ordered two more thousands [packs of a thousand each].
  2. (in the plural) thousands, a lot (unspecified large quantity)
    Es kamen Tausende Zuschauer / von Zuschauern.
    There were thousands of spectators.
    Es kamen viele Tausend(e) Zuschauer / von Zuschauern.
    There were many thousands of spectators.
    Das Spiel begeisterte die Tausende(n) Zuschauer / von Zuschauern.
    The match enthralled the thousands of spectators.

Usage notes

  • In sense 1, the plural is always unchanged. In sense 2, it can be unchanged optionally after an indefinite numeral such as viele or etliche. Otherwise the standard plural for sense 2 is Tausende. However, it is also fairly common to use adjectival declension in the plural, meaning that the form becomes Tausenden after articles and determiners, otherwise Tausende.
  • A following noun may be added as an apposition or with von (of).

Declension

Alternative forms

Derived terms

Noun

Tausend f (genitive Tausend, plural Tausenden)

  1. (cardinal number) thousand (the number)
    (Die) Tausend ist die kleinste vierstellige Zahl.
    Thousand is the smallest four-digit number.
    Was bedeutet die Tausend, die du hier aufgeschrieben hast?
    What does this thousand mean that you wrote down here?

Declension

Coordinate terms

Interjection

Tausend!

  1. (minced oath, colloquial, dated) euphemistic form of Teufel! (devil!)

Further reading