German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German gatunge, from gaten (to come together, to fit), from Old High German (bi)gaton, from Proto-West Germanic *gadōn. Cognate with Dutch gading (satisfaction).

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈɡatʊŋ/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: Gat‧tung

Noun

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Gattung f (genitive Gattung, plural Gattungen)

  1. (biology, taxonomy) genus
  2. (loosely) species
    • 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche, “Erstes Buch”, in Die fröhliche Wissenschaft[1], section 1; republished as Thomas Common, transl., The Gay Science, 1924:
      Ich mag nun mit gutem oder bösem Blick auf die Menschen sehen, ich finde sie immer bei einer Aufgabe, alle und jeden einzelnen insonderheit: das zu tun, was der Erhaltung der menschlichen Gattung frommt.
      Whether I look with a good or an evil eye upon men, I find them always at one problem, each and all of them: to do that which conduces to the conservation of the human species.
  3. (grammar) voice, gender (of verbs)
  4. genre

Declension

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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Further reading

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