Skip to content

zerknautscht

crumpled up, badly crushed

adjective tser-KNOWTSHT Rare
Descriptions & Qualities Conditions

Usage Note

Zerknautscht describes fabric or soft material that has been thoroughly crumpled — zerknautschte Kleidung. Applied to a face it informally means looking tired and crumpled, as if one slept badly.

Examples

"Das zerknautschte Hemd aus dem Koffer sah so aus, als hätte er es monatelang darin gelagert."

Natural Translation

The crumpled shirt from the suitcase looked as though he had stored it there for months.

Literal Translation

The crumpled shirt from the suitcase looked as if he had stored it there for months.

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