allein
German
Alternative forms
- alleine (chiefly colloquial, only occasionally in formal writing)
Etymology
From Middle High German al-ein. Cognate with Middle English al-one, English alone, Dutch alleen, Low German alleene (Münsterländisch), alläine (Sauerländisch).[1]
Pronunciation
- (Standard German)
- IPA(key): /(ʔ)aˈlaɪn/
- (Swabian)
- IPA(key): /(ʔ)əˈlɔɪ̯/
audio (Austria) (file) Audio (file) - Rhymes: -aɪ̯n
Adjective
allein (indeclinable, predicative only)
- (only predicative) alone
- Er ist ganz allein.
- He is all alone.
Adverb
allein
- alone
- Er schrieb das Buch allein.
- He wrote the book alone.
- Allein im Jahr 2012 starben 500 Menschen an der Krankheit.
- In 2012 alone, 500 people died from the illness.
- (formal, literary) only
- Allein ein Wunder kann uns noch helfen.
- Only a miracle can help us now.
Synonyms
- nur, bloß
- ausschließlich
Derived terms
- alleinig
Related terms
- alleinerziehend, Alleingang, alleinherrschend, Alleinherrscher, alleinreisend, alleinstehend, Alleinstellung
See also
- einsam
References
- Friedrich Kluge (1883), “allein”, in , John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891
Further reading
- “allein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache