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There are a number of German terms for which there are no useful English equivalents. Because of their usefulness, these terms – called loanwords – have entered the English lexicon.

This list, with nearest synonyms includes:

• Ablaut – alternation of sounds within a word that indicates grammatical information
• Abseil – to lower oneself down being attached to a rope
• Angst – feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity
• Ansatz – one of the most used German loan words in the English-speaking world of science
• Arbeit Macht Frei- Work Makes You Free: Traditional Germanic work song, usually quoted in mass.
• Beer stein (or simply Stein, short for German Steinkrug) – a traditional beer mug
• Blitz – "lightning", came to be known as a metaphor for "extremely fast"/an explicably fast maneuver or movement
• Blitzkrieg – lightning war
• Bratwurst – sausage
• Doppelgänger – ghostly counterpart of a living person
• Ersatz – being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation
• Eigenvector - (Eigenvektor) also Eigenvalue (Eigenwert) and Eigenspace (Eigenraum). They are related concepts in the field of linear algebra
• Frankfurter
• gestalt – collection of physical, biological, psychological or symbolic entities that creates a unified concept, configuration or pattern which is greater than the sum of its parts (of a character, personality, or being)
• Gesundheit - "health", used in toasts and it is used as an alternative to "Bless you"
• Glockenspiel – musical instrument with tuned metal bars which are struck with a mallot
• Götterdämmerung – literally, twilight of the gods; a collapse of a society or regime, marked by catastrophic violence and disorder
• Hamburger - a round slab of meat placed between two buns
• Hinterland – countryside far away from urban areas
• Horst
• Kaput - destroyed or broken. In German, the original word is correctly spelled "kaputt".
• Kindergarten – nursery, lit. garden of children or garden for children
• Lager
• Lebensraum – space required for life, growth, or activity, compare to Elbow room, Living-room
• Meister – master/teacher (compare to Maestro)
• Motif
• Ostpolitik
• Pilsener
• Pretzel – Pastry of German origin, the name comes from the German word Brezel
• Poltergeist – a noisy usually mischievous ghost held to be responsible for unexplained noises
• Pumpernickel
• Putsch – revolution; a secretly plotted and suddenly executed attempt to overthrow a government
• Realpolitik – politics based on practical and material factors rather than on theoretical or ethical objectives
• Rucksack – backpack
• Sauerkraut – fermented cabbage
• Schadenfreude – enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others
• Schnapps - an alcoholic drink. In German spelled "Schnaps"
• Schnitzel – veal cutlet without bones
• Streusel
• Strudel
• Über – lit. "over", as in above, ultra, very;
• Übermensch – superman/superhuman
• Umlaut – the diacritic over the vowels "ä", "ö" and "ü", or more generally the phenomenon of vowel shifts such as the one in German that is represented by this diacritic
• Wanderlust – strong longing for or impulse toward wandering
• Wiener
• Wirtschaftswunder – the upturn experienced in the West German and Austrian economies after the Second World War
• Wunderkind – child prodigy
• Zeitgeist – "spirit of the times"

See also

• List of German expressions in English
• German placename etymology
• German name
• List of Spanish words of Germanic origin
• List of Portuguese words of Germanic origin
• List of English words of Yiddish origin