Zahn
English
Etymology
Borrowed from German Zahn.
Proper noun
Zahn (plural Zahns)
- A surname from German.
Statistics
- According to the 2010 United States Census, Zahn is the 5695th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 6086 individuals. Zahn is most common among White (93.95%) individuals.
Further reading
- Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Zahn”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.
Central Franconian
Alternative forms
- Zand (Moselle Franconian; some dialects of Ripuarian)
- Zank (Ripuarian; now chiefly western dialects)
Etymology
From German Zahn, from Middle High German zan, zant, from Old High German zan, zand, from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ.
The velarised form Zank, which is native in most of Ripuarian, has widely been replaced in eastern dialects; some of them have adopted the southern form Zand, others the standard German form Zahn. As can be seen below, the native plural Zäng remains intact. Compare Hand for more.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /tsaːn/
Noun
Zahn m (plural Zäng, diminutive Zähnche)
- (some dialects of Ripuarian) tooth
German
Etymology
From Middle High German zan, zant, from Old High German zan, zand, from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ, from Proto-Germanic *tanþs.
The Old High German nominative zan alongside zand is not quite clear, but may go back to an inherited variation that was levelled in the other old languages. The stems zan- and zand- were then used indiscriminately in Middle High German. The success of the form without -d may have been reinforced by the widespread dialectal development: intervocalic -nd- → -nn-, which produced d-less inflected forms even in dialects that used zand-. Cognates include Dutch and Danish tand, English tooth. See the latter for more.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t͡saːn/
audio (file) audio (file) - Rhymes: -aːn
Noun
Zahn m (strong, genitive Zahnes or Zahns, plural Zähne, diminutive Zähnchen n or Zähnlein n)
- tooth
- fang
- tusk
- cog, tine
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| indef. | def. | noun | def. | noun | |
| nominative | ein | der | Zahn | die | Zähne |
| genitive | eines | des | Zahnes, Zahns | der | Zähne |
| dative | einem | dem | Zahn, Zahne1 | den | Zähnen |
| accusative | einen | den | Zahn | die | Zähne |
1Now uncommon, see notes.
Derived terms
- auf den Zahn fühlen
- Backenzahn
- Eckzahn
- einen Zahn zulegen
- Fangzahn
- Haare auf den Zähnen haben
- Sägezähne
- Schneidezahn
- Stoßzahn
- verzahnen
- Zahnarzt
- Zahnbürste
- Zahncreme
- Zahn der Zeit
- Zahn der Zeit
- zahnen
- Zahnfee
- Zahnfleisch
- zahnlos
- Zahnlücke
- Zahnpasta
- Zahnrad
- Zahnschmelz
- Zahnseide
- Zahnstein
- Zahnstocher
Descendants
- → Central Franconian: Zahn
Further reading
- “Zahn” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “Zahn” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “Zahn” in Duden online
Zahn on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de