Block

See also: block

English

Etymology

• A Germanic surname (German, Dutch and English), from German Block and Dutch blok respectively. As an English surname from the same cognate, block.
• As a Jewish surname, Americanized from Bloch. Also see Vlach.

Proper noun

Block (countable and uncountable, plural Blocks)

1. A surname.
   • 1994, Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast, Gay & Lesbian Literature: Introduction to gay male literature, page 37:

     The major themes in Francesca Lia Block's books include the necessity of love and the acceptance of and celebration of racial and sexual difference.

   1. A surname from the Germanic languages
      1. A surname from German
      2. A surname from Dutch
      3. An English surname
   2. A Jewish surname
2. An unincorporated community in Champaign County, Illinois, United States.
3. An unincorporated community in Miami County, Kansas, United States.
4. An unincorporated community in Campbell County, Tennessee, United States.

Statistics

• Block is most common among White individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Block”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 1, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 174.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German bloc, from Old High German bloc. The more common Middle High German form was originally bloch, from Old High German bloh. The variant prevailed in modern German under the reinforcing influence of Middle Low German block. All from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką.

The architectural sense is loaned from English block (and may therefore take a plural in -s).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɔk/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: Blog, blogg, block

Noun

Block m (strong, genitive Blockes or Blocks, plural Blöcke or Blocks)

1. bloc
2. block (thick, roughly cuboid object, e.g. cake of soap, block of ice, wood, etc.)
3. block (large building or group of such)
4. pad (of paper)

Usage notes

• The normal plural is Blöcke.
• The plural Blocks is often, but not necessarily, used for sense 3 (“large building”).

Declension

Declension of Block [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Block	die	Blöcke, Blocks
genitive	eines	des	Blockes, Blocks	der	Blöcke, Blocks
dative	einem	dem	Block, Blocke1	den	Blöcken, Blocks
accusative	einen	den	Block	die	Blöcke, Blocks

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• Blockflöte
• Häuserblock

 

Descendants

• → Catalan: bloc
• → Czech: blok
• → Hungarian: blokk
• → Polish: blok
• → Russian: блок (blok)
  • → Armenian: բլոկ (blok)
  • → Yakut: блок (blok)
• → Slovene: blok

Further reading

• “Block” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Block” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Block” in Duden online
• Block on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de