Vernichtungskrieg
German, noun/ferˈnɪçtʊŋsˌkriːk/
Vernichtungskrieg is spelled V-E-R-N-I-C-H-T-U-N-G-S-K-R-I-E-G (17 letters) and appears about once in every 3 million words in written German, the 88,766th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Vernichtungskrieg is a German masculine noun meaning “war of annihilation (war that aims at erasing the nationhood of the enemy, by utterly subduing or physically destroying them)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “bewaffnete Auseinandersetzung zwischen zwei oder mehr Staaten, in der zumindest einer versucht, einen anderen…”.
What does Vernichtungskrieg mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinewar of annihilation (war that aims at erasing the nationhood of the enemy, by utterly subduing or physically destroying them)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. bewaffnete Auseinandersetzung zwischen zwei oder mehr Staaten, in der zumindest einer versucht, einen anderen durch Zerstörung dessen Infrastruktur sowie durch Tötung dessen Bevölkerung zunichtezumachen
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of Vernichtungskrieg
- Vernichtungskrieges genitive
- Vernichtungskriegs genitive
- Vernichtungskriege plural
- Vernichtungskriegen dative definite plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Vernichtungskrieg?
- /ferˈnɪçtʊŋsˌkriːk/
- [fɐˈnɪç.tʊŋ(k)sˌkʁiːk]
- [fɛɐ̯-]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Vernichtungskrieg in German?
Vernichtungskrieg appears about once in every 3 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).