Insults in German? Here's our Top 10!
Learning German but struggling to express yourself in heated situations? Sometimes it’s hard to find the words (or insults) to show your frustration. Insults, expressions and sayings aren’t always the first thing you learn when starting a new language, but they’re definitely the most fun! The German language has many wonderful insults, typically made up of compound nouns (words that are made up of two or more nouns). Did you know that the longest German compound noun contains 81 letters? Don’t worry, their insults aren’t quite as long!
We’ve spoken to our native German Lingodies and German students, and put together a list of German insults and compound nouns to help you out when the textbooks can’t.
Start your journey to reach fluency
How to insult people in German
1. Der Sockenschläfer
Someone who wears socks in bed. What a loser!
Like to look clean cut with not a crease in sight?
2. You’re a Jeansbügler
This is a great example of a clean German insult: Someone who irons their jeans (who does that?!)
Does one of your colleagues find the boss’ jokes just a little bit too funny?
3. Feel free to call them a Chefwitzlacher
They laugh at the boss’s terrible jokes, whether they are funny or not.
In the pub but fancy something a bit warmer to drink? Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good cuppa!
4. Der Teetrinker
Someone who drinks tea whilst everyone else is drinking beer.
We all know one, we’ve all seen one in the supermarket and tried not to stare….
5. Der Socken-in-Sandalen-Träger
“The socks-in-sandals wearer”
We’ve got just the best German insult for your local ten-bob-millionaire!
Start your journey to reach fluency
6. Der Lackaffe
Simple and to the point. Lackaffe means someone who likes to dress overly flashy in order to attract attention to themselves, or to show off!
We all know someone who can be a little ditsy.
7. Pappnase
This is used in a loving way to insult someone who might not always see the obvious!
In English, we may refer to them as an airhead.
8. Der Hohlkopf
The literal translation means “a head with nothing inside”
9. Der Weichei
Literally means “a soft egg”. If someone uses this German insult to describe you, they’re saying you’re a wimp, basically!
Nobody likes a nitpicker!
10. Der Erbsenzähler
The literal translation is “pea counter”. It’s used to describe someone who complains about everything. Oh dear!
So, now you have some of the top clean German insults, just be careful who you use them with!
Start your journey to reach fluency
Lingoda Team
This article was produced by one of the in-house Lingoda writers.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rbXNoKadmV6YvK57waWmoGeVo3yosdGmmKdlmaPAtrjTrGY%3D