Bundesland

German

Etymology

From Bund +‎ -es- +‎ Land, the former related to binden (“bind”). In a literal sense: 'one of several lands bound to another' or more simply 'allied country'.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Austria)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Bundesland n (strong, genitive Bundeslandes or Bundeslands, plural Bundesländer)

1. federal state (non-sovereign state)
2. (legal context) One of the 16 federal states of Germany
3. (legal context) One of the 9 federal states of Austria

Declension

Declension of Bundesland [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Bundesland	die	Bundesländer
genitive	eines	des	Bundeslandes, Bundeslands	der	Bundesländer
dative	einem	dem	Bundesland, Bundeslande1	den	Bundesländern
accusative	ein	das	Bundesland	die	Bundesländer

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

• “Bundesland” in Duden online
• “Bundesland” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache