Covid Adds 1,200 Words to German Language

It gets pretty staggering pretty quickly when you think about all the things Covid has taken from us this past year. But, to look on the bright side, it has also given us things. And for the Germans, it has given us 1,200 things.

Yup, Covid has given the German people 1,200 new words. What are some of those words? We’re glad you asked.

Coronamutationsgebiet- is a compound word, combining the words for Corona, mutation and area and means a word with a large and sudden spread.

Of course, they had to make some of these words very… German… Like CoronaFußgruß, which means ‘Corona foot greeting.’ Or there’s Abstandsbier, which directly translates to ‘distance beer,’ but can be used to imply social distancing.

And then there’s Gesichtskondom, which literally translates to ‘face condom,’ and, we think, can be used to describe a face mask. We hope.