Kaugummi

German

Etymology

kauen (“to chew”) +‎ Gummi (“gum, rubber”)

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Kaugummi (northern and western Germany) n (strong, genitive Kaugummis, plural Kaugummis) or
Kaugummi (southern and eastern Germany, Austria, Switzerland) m (strong, genitive Kaugummis, plural Kaugummi)

1. chewing gum
   • 1930, “act 2, scene 3”, in Bertolt Brecht (lyrics), Kurt Weil (music), Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny:

     Spucke den Kaugummi aus, / wasche zuerst deine Hände, / lasse ihr Zeit und sprich ein paar Worte mit ihr.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. piece of chewing gum

Usage notes

• The neuter gender predominates in northwest and middle-west Germany, while the masculine gender predominates in the southern language area. Elsewhere, the neuter gender is normally used for the material, and the masculine gender for the object.

Declension

Declension of Kaugummi [neuter (northern and eastern Germany), strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Kaugummi	die	Kaugummis
genitive	eines	des	Kaugummis	der	Kaugummis
dative	einem	dem	Kaugummi	den	Kaugummis
accusative	ein	das	Kaugummi	die	Kaugummis

Declension of Kaugummi [masculine (southern and eastern Germany, Austria, Switzerland), strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Kaugummi	die	Kaugummi
genitive	eines	des	Kaugummis	der	Kaugummi
dative	einem	dem	Kaugummi	den	Kaugummi
accusative	einen	den	Kaugummi	die	Kaugummi

Further reading

• “Kaugummi” in Duden online
• “Kaugummi” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache