Skip to content

Herkunft

origin

noun HAIR-kunft Less Common
People & Society Nationality

Also means

background

Usage Note

Herkunft denotes a person's origin or 'background' (social, ethnic, geographic) and the provenance of goods, die Herkunft der Waren. It is built from her (hither) + Kunft (a coming), so literally 'a coming-from'. There is no everyday plural.

Examples

"Seine Herkunft ist unbekannt."

Natural Translation

His origin is unknown.

Free starter pack

Building your German vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common German words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore German by topic