German

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Etymology

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Coined in the 15th century after the model of wahnwitzig which uses as its first part the word wahn, which came from Old High German wan "missing, empty", which came from Proto-Germanic *wanaz. Not cognate with Wahn. Cognate with English wane.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈvaːnˌzɪnɪç/ (standard)
  • IPA(key): /ˈvaːnˌzɪnɪk/ (common form in southern Germany, Austria, and Switzerland)
  • Audio (Austria):(file)
  • Hyphenation: wahn‧sin‧nig

Adjective

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wahnsinnig (strong nominative masculine singular wahnsinniger, comparative wahnsinniger, superlative am wahnsinnigsten)

  1. mad, insane
    Sind Sie wahnsinnig?
    Are you insane?
  2. incredible, unbelievable

Declension

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Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Adverb

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wahnsinnig

  1. incredibly, awfully
    Die Verbrennung war wahnsinnig schmerzhaft.
    The burn was incredibly painful.

Further reading

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