German Slang Words That Have Different Meaning In The UK

English is a Germanic language. Here are German slang words that exists in the English language but mean differently.

1. Knicker

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1.Knicker

UK: underwear (although in England, knick without the ‘er’ means, thieving.’

Germany: penny-pincher

‘Don’t you ever try to hide your pennies in your knicker, you knicker!’

Or

'Please don't knick my knicker you absolute knicker.'

2. Clean

UK: Neat

Germany: really trustworthy

Of course, you have to be clean in order to be trusted.

3. Moses

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UK: Biblical Character who was entrusted to lead the Jewish out of slavery.

Germany: to get old

‘Moses was well old when he crossed the Red Sea.'

4. Pup

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UK: a baby sea lion

Germany: fart / flatulence

‘The pup in Pier 39 in San Francisco just had a pup.’

5. Null

UK: invalid or no legal force

Germany: Zero

'The contract was null, you get zero damages.'

Or

'Their marital contract has been null and void because of decree nisi.'

6. Links

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UK (Scotland): ‘Links golf course’ – the oldest type of golf course complete with sand dunes.

Germany: Left

‘Please turn links in order to reach the links golf course’

7. Dick

UK: derogatory or vulgar term for a man's genitalia or an insult slang for being dull.

Germany: fed up with

'I feel such a dick after talking to that dick.'

8. Marie

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UK: a woman’s name

Germany: money

'Marie is so loaded, she has loads of marie.'

9. Bonsai

UK: Japanese art using trees by making them small and tiny instead of a properly grown tree.

Germany: runt (which was actually gotten from the small dwarfed Japanese tree)

'Your kids are still like a bonsai.'

10. Mall

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UK: a promenade

(Bonus USA: where you go shopping)

Germany: crazy

‘Let’s have a walk at the mall and let's be mall about it.’

11. Maxi

UK: very large just like a maxi skirt or a maxi dress

Germany: super

(Maxi is a German slang that becomes a prefix of another adjective such as maxischoen – very lovely)

'My maxi dress is making me look maxi pretty.'

12. Mist

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UK: very fine droplets of water

Germany: manure

‘If you ever see your enemy, why not throw a mist!’

13. Sand

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UK: very fine shattered pieces of rock that we use to build castles when on holiday in Greece or Spain.

Germany: money

‘I wish my money is like sand – gazillions!’