Gehöft

German

Alternative forms

• Gehöfte (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle High German gehüfte, so attested 1309 in Königsdorf near Cologne; later also in East Central German gehoffte (and variants). Collective formation from Hof (“yard, farmyard, farm”). Regarding the Dutch colonisation in the east, it is possible that the German word goes back to Middle Dutch, in which ghehuchte, ghehochte, from Old Dutch *gihufti, is older and commoner. Plausibly the same is also true of rare Middle Low German gehüchte. Compare modern Dutch gehucht (“hamlet”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡəˈhœft/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ge‧höft

Noun

Gehöft n (strong, genitive Gehöftes or Gehöfts, plural Gehöfte)

1. farm, farmstead, of any size, but especially a small one

Declension

Declension of Gehöft [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Gehöft	die	Gehöfte
genitive	eines	des	Gehöftes, Gehöfts	der	Gehöfte
dative	einem	dem	Gehöft, Gehöfte1	den	Gehöften
accusative	ein	das	Gehöft	die	Gehöfte

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

• “Gehöft” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Gehöft” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.
• “Gehöft” in Duden online