Geist

See also: geist

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Geist.

Proper noun

Geist (plural Geists)

1. A surname from German.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Geist is the 5802^nd most common surname in the United States, belonging to 5966 individuals. Geist is most common among White (95.34%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Geist”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 2, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 27.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German geist, from Old High German geist, from Proto-West Germanic *gaist, from Proto-Germanic *gaistaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰóysdos (“anger, agitation”). Cognate with Dutch geest, West Frisian geast, English ghost, Swedish gast, Persian زشت (zešt, “ugly, hateful, disgusting”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaɪ̯st/

• Audio (Austria)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Geist m (strong, genitive Geistes or Geists, plural Geister)

1. spirit
2. (Christianity) the Holy Spirit; Holy Ghost
3. essence
4. mind, wit
5. ghost; spook

   Synonym: Gespenst

6. (Egoistic philosophy) spook

Declension

Declension of Geist [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Geist	die	Geister
genitive	eines	des	Geistes, Geists	der	Geister
dative	einem	dem	Geist, Geiste1	den	Geistern
accusative	einen	den	Geist	die	Geister

¹Now rare, see notes.

Hyponyms

• Forschergeist
• Freigeist
• Heiliger Geist
• Poltergeist
• Schöpfergeist
• Teamgeist
• Weltgeist
• Zeitgeist

 

Derived terms

• den Geist aufgeben
• Geisterbahn
• Geisterfahrer
• Geisterhaus
• Geisterschiff
• Geisterstadt
• Geisterstunde
• Geisterzug
• geistesabwesend
• Geisteswissenschaft
• Geisteszustand
• geistig
• geistlich
• geistreich
• Kampfgeist
• Ungeist ("evil spirit, demon")

 

Related terms

• begeistern
• rumgeistern
• herumgeistern

Noun

Geist m (strong, genitive Geistes or Geists, plural Geiste)

1. (chiefly in compounds) an alcoholic drink; a spirit

Declension

Declension of Geist [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Geist	die	Geiste
genitive	eines	des	Geistes, Geists	der	Geiste
dative	einem	dem	Geist, Geiste1	den	Geisten
accusative	einen	den	Geist	die	Geiste

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

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