Word of the Day

: May 6, 2007

sprachgefuhl

noun SHPRAHKH-guh-fuel

What It Means

: an intuitive sense of what is linguistically appropriate

sprachgefuhl in Context

One review of the book praised the author's sprachgefuhl and her graceful, literary style.

Did You Know?

"Sprachgefuhl" was borrowed into English from German at the end of the 19th century and combines two German nouns, "Sprache," meaning "language, speech," and "Gefühl," meaning "feeling." We're quite certain that the quality of sprachgefuhl is common among our readers, but the word itself is rare, making only occasional appearances in our language.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.