Kaufmann

German

Etymology

Historically from Middle High German koufman, from Old High German koufman, from Proto-West Germanic *kaupamann, equivalent to kaufen +‎ Mann.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊ̯fˌman/
Audio (Germany (Berlin)): (file)

Noun

Kaufmann m (strong, genitive Kaufmannes or Kaufmanns, plural Kaufmänner or Kaufleute, feminine Kauffrau)

merchant, businessman, trader

Declension

Declension of Kaufmann [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Kaufmann	die	Kaufmänner, Kaufleute
genitive	eines	des	Kaufmannes, Kaufmanns	der	Kaufmänner, Kaufleute
dative	einem	dem	Kaufmann, Kaufmanne¹	den	Kaufmännern, Kaufleuten
accusative	einen	den	Kaufmann	die	Kaufmänner, Kaufleute

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

Proper noun

Kaufmann m or f (proper noun, surname, masculine genitive Kaufmanns or (with an article) Kaufmann, feminine genitive Kaufmann, plural Kaufmanns)

a surname originating as an occupation

Related terms

Kaufhold, Kaufland
Altmann, Bergmann, Heinemann, Heinzelmann
Heiermann, Hermann, Landmann, Neumann, Zimmermann

Symbol

Kaufmann

(Germany, military, dated) The letter K from the German spelling alphabet
Synonym: (since 2022) Köln

Coordinate terms

Konrad (the letter K from the Österreich Funkalphabet, the spelling alphabet of Austria)
Kaiser (the letter K from the Schweiz Telefonalphabet, the phonetic spelling alphabet of Switzerland)
Kilo (the letter K from the NATO Buchstabieralphabet, the radiotelephonic alphabet for NATO)
Kilogramme (the letter k for the International Fliegeralphabet)