Polyglot Dictionary

Familienname

/faˈmiːli̯ənˌnaːmə/

der noun A1

der (masc.) die (fem.) das (neut.)

Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.

N Register Neutral Era Current Frequency Core Domain General Tone Neutral

Forms

plural
die Familiennamen

Meaning

  1. surname

    Built from Familie (family) + Name (name).

    • Mein Familienname ist Müller.

      My surname is Müller.

N Category Thing Concreteness Concrete Animacy Inanimate Countability Countable Scope Individual

Made of

  • Familie family
  • Name name

Similar words

Nachname

Nearly interchangeable. Familienname foregrounds that it's shared across the family; Nachname just describes its position — the name that comes after the first one.

Similar in other languages

Spanish

apellido

apellido is the Spanish word for the same thing — both mean "surname."

Portuguese

sobrenome

sobrenome is the Portuguese word for the same thing — both mean "surname."

Practice

1 What does Familienname mean?

2 Fill the gap: Mein ___ ist Müller.

3 Which fingerprint chart matches Familienname?

nouncompound

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