Wiktionary

Umwelt

See also: umwelt

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from German Umwelt (“environment”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

Umwelt (plural Umwelts or Umwelten)

  1. One's surroundings or environment; the outer world as perceived by organisms within it.
    • 1979, Kyril Bonfiglioli, “After You with the Pistol”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      It seems that these S-E-A-Values are all about what ethnologists call the Umwelt — the area of alarm around members of the brute creation, such as human beings.
    • 1990 October 7, S. J. Bodio, A. Shilstone, “Pigeon Racing: Homing in on an 'invisible' sport”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 21, number 7, pages 80, 10p:
      Still, a pigeon's worldview -- its Umwelt, ...
    • 2006, Chris Arthur, “Empty Room”, in Southwest Review, volume 91, number 3, pages p295-312, 18p:
      ... a fragment snipped from the perplexing umwelt of Homo sapiens, our innumerable temporary enclosures.

Related terms edit

German edit

Etymology edit

From um- +‎ Welt. In the biological sense first used by Jakob Johann von Uexküll (1909).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈʊmvɛlt/
  • Audio (Austria)(file)
  • Audio(file)

Noun edit

Umwelt f (genitive Umwelt, plural Umwelten)

  1. environment; milieu; surroundings
    • 1816, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Auf dem Brenner, den 8. September, abends”, in Italienische Reise [Italian Journey]‎[1], volume 1:
      Der Tag ist so lang, das Nachdenken ungestört, und die herrlichen Bilder der Umwelt verdrängen keineswegs den poetischen Sinn, sie rufen ihn vielmehr, von Bewegung und freier Luft begleitet, nur desto schneller hervor.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (biology, ecology) environment; ecosystem
    • 1909, Jakob von Uexküll, Umwelt und Innenwelt der Tiere, Berlin: J. Springer, page 248:
      Jedes Tier besitzt seine eigene Umwelt, die immer größere Verschiedenheiten mit der unseren aufweist, je weiter es sich in seiner Organisation von uns entfernt.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension edit

Declension of Umwelt [feminine]
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative eine die Umwelt die Umwelten
genitive einer der Umwelt der Umwelten
dative einer der Umwelt den Umwelten
accusative eine die Umwelt die Umwelten

Hyponyms edit

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

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