Musikant

German

Alternative forms

• Musicant

Etymology

16th century, from Medieval Latin musicans, present participle of musicare (“to play music”), perhaps through Italian musicante. Equivalent to Musik +‎ -ant.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /muziˈkant/
• Rhymes: -ant

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Musikant m (weak, genitive Musikanten, plural Musikanten, feminine Musikantin)

1. musician
   • 1737, J.A. Scheibe, Der Critische Musicus. I. Theil, Hamburg, page 46f:

     Der Herr [Bach] ist endlich in [Leipzig] der Vornehmste unter den Musicanten.

     Mister Bach is the most distinguished of the musicians in Leipzig.

Usage notes

• Musikant is mostly restricted to amateur or “lower-tier” musicians such as street musicians, performers of folk music at public festivals, and suchlike. The general word for “musician” is Musiker.

Declension

Declension of Musikant [masculine, weak]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Musikant	die	Musikanten
genitive	eines	des	Musikanten	der	Musikanten
dative	einem	dem	Musikanten	den	Musikanten
accusative	einen	den	Musikanten	die	Musikanten

Derived terms

• Musikantenknochen n (“funny bone”, literally “musician bone”)
• Straßenmusikant m (“street musician”)

 

Descendants

• → Yiddish: מוזיקאַנט (muzikant)

Further reading

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