This week’s theme
Words borrowed from German

This week’s words
kitsch
verboten
ubermensch
gauleiter
clerisy

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(vuhr-BOHT-n)

MEANING:

adjective: Not allowed; forbidden.

ETYMOLOGY:

From German verboten (forbidden), past participle of verbieten (to forbid). Ultimately from the Indo-European root bheudh- (to be or to make aware), which also gave us beadle, ombudsman, forbid, and the word Buddha. Earliest documented use: 1912.

USAGE:

“Those attending the Wagner festival in Bayreuth this month, including Angela Merkel, have been told that cushions are now verboten. It is claimed that this is for security reasons, although Wagner, in designing the Festspielhaus [festival theater], had wanted exceptionally hard wooden seats to prevent the audience from treating his operas as fun.”
Patrick Kidd; [Theresa] May Life Story is Not Written; The Times (London, UK); Jul 12, 2016.

See more usage examples of verboten in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: