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Wiktionary

angst

See also: Angst

English

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WOTD – 21 June 2012

Etymology

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Borrowed from German Angst or Danish angst; attested since the 19th century in English translations of the works of Søren Kierkegaard. Initially capitalized (as in German and contemporaneous Danish), the term first began to be written with a lowercase "a" around 1940–44.[1][2][3] The German and Danish terms both derive from Middle High German angest, from Old High German angust, from Proto-Germanic *angustiz; Dutch angst is cognate. Compare Swedish ångest.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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angst (uncountable)

  1. Emotional turmoil; painful sadness.
    • 1979, Peter Hammill, Mirror images:
      I've begun to regret that we'd ever met / Between the dimensions. / It gets such a strain to pretend that the change / Is anything but cheap. / With your infant pique and your angst pretensions / Sometimes you act like such a creep.
    • 2007, Martyn Bone, Perspectives on Barry Hannah, page 3:
      Harry's adolescence is theatrical and gaudy, and many of its key scenes have a lurid and camp quality that is appropriate to the exaggerated mood-shifting and self-dramatizing of teen angst.
  2. A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
  3. (chiefly fanfiction) Fiction focusing on characters experiencing strong emotions and conflicts with other characters.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Linda Green, Entering Potter's World: A Guide for Fanfiction Writers, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 21:
      General: a story with a general theme. It is neither romance or angst but may incorporate elements of all other genres.
    • 2017 October 31, Ashley J. Barner, The Case for Fanfiction: Exploring the Pleasures and Practices of a Maligned Craft, McFarland, →ISBN, page 67:
      Fans prefer fluff to other types of fic. But angst (dramatic stories where characters have a wide range of emotions, including ... angsty ones) comes in a close second.
    • 2020 October 2, Mike Goode, Romantic Capabilities: Blake, Scott, Austen, and the New Messages of Old Media, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 193:
      There are plots that take off from the discovery of another characters' letters or diaries (e.g., CarolB's “First Attachment," an angst fanfic in which Marianne Dashwood discovers Colonel Brandon's diary related to his youthful relationship with Eliza)

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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angst (third-person singular simple present angsts, present participle angsting, simple past and past participle angsted)

  1. (informal, intransitive) To suffer angst; to fret.
    • 2001, Joseph P Natoli, Postmodern Journeys: Film and Culture, 1996-1998:
      In the second scene, the camera switches to the father listening, angsting, dying inside, but saying nothing.
    • 2006, Liz Ireland, Three Bedrooms in Chelsea:
      She'd never angsted so much about her head as she had in the past twenty-four hours. Why the hell hadn't she just left it alone?

References

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  1. ^ “angst”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
  2. ^ “angst”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  3. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “angst”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

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Danish

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Etymology

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From Middle High German angest, from Old High German angust, from Proto-Germanic *angustiz.

Adjective

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angst

  1. afraid, anxious, alarmed

Noun

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angst c (singular definite angsten, not used in plural form)

  1. fear, anxiety, alarm, apprehension, dread
  2. angst

Dutch

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Etymology

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From Middle Dutch anxt, from Old Dutch *angust, from Proto-Germanic *angustiz, an abstract noun derived from the adjective *anguz. Similar abstract noun derivations from an adjective are dienst and ernst. Cognates include Middle Low German angest, Old High German angust, Middle High German angest, German Angst, Old Frisian ongosta, West Frisian eangst. See also eng.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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angst m (plural angsten, diminutive angstje n)

  1. fear, fright, anxiety
    Synonyms: huiver, schrik, vrees, vrucht

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Afrikaans: angs

Anagrams

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology

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From Middle Low German (compare German Angst).

Noun

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angst m (definite singular angsten, uncountable)

  1. angst, anxiety

Derived terms

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References

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“angst” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Polish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Middle High German angest.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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angst m inan

  1. (philosophy) angst (philosophical anxiety)

Declension

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Declension of angst
singular plural
nominative angst angsty
genitive angstu angstów
dative angstowi angstom
accusative angst angsty
instrumental angstem angstami
locative angście angstach
vocative angście angsty

Further reading

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  • angst in Polish dictionaries at PWN
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