Vormund

German

Etymology

From Middle High German vormunde, from Old High German foramunto, a compound of fora (“before, in front of”, whence German vor) + munt (“hand; protection; guardianship”). In contemporary understanding it is usually reanalysed as vor +‎ Mund (“mouth”, unrelated with the former word), thus “who speaks for someone before they can speak for themselves”; thence also the plural Vormünder.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfoːrˌmʊnt/, [ˈfoːɐ̯ˌmʊnt], [ˈfɔɐ̯-], [ˈfɔː-]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Vormund m (strong, genitive Vormundes or Vormunds, plural Vormünder or Vormunde)

1. legal guardian

Declension

Declension of Vormund [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Vormund	die	Vormünder, Vormunde
genitive	eines	des	Vormundes, Vormunds	der	Vormünder, Vormunde
dative	einem	dem	Vormund, Vormunde1	den	Vormündern, Vormunden
accusative	einen	den	Vormund	die	Vormünder, Vormunde

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• Vormundschaft
• bevormunden

Related terms

• mündig
• mundtot

Further reading

• “Vormund” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache