With black ice (Glatteis) causing chaos across Germany at the moment, one small German word is everywhere: glatt.
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It doesn’t just describe icy roads, though. In German, glatt can mean slippery, smooth, completely, or even flat-out. Let’s take a look at some fascinating German words that begin or end with glatt.
What does glatt actually mean?
- literal: smooth, slippery
Die Straße ist glatt.
The road is slippery. - figurative: completely, outright, without hesitation
Das ist glatt gelogen.
That’s a complete lie.
Nouns beginning with glatt-
- das Glatteis – black ice
- die Glatteisbildung – formation of black ice
- die Glatteisgefahr – danger of black ice
- die Glatteiswarnung – warning of black ice
- die Glattness – eveness/ smoothness
And a few animals and plants (because they have something smooth). Before you ask, until I reserached this I hadn’t heard of any of those.
- das Glattfußhuhn – smooth-footed chicken
- der Glatt-Stör – thorn sturgeon
- das Glatt-Brillenschötchen – Biscutella laevigata, buckler-mustard
- die Glattweide – bald willow
Words ending in -glatt
- eisglatt – icy/ slippery
- spiegelglatt – as smooth as glass
- aalglatt – (figurative, often, derogatory) slick; slimy; professional in a disingenuous way
- arschglatt – very colloquial for slippery. I heard a reporter say it on German news when the roads were very icy (so icy, you could fall on your bottom ????)
Verbs which can be used with glatt
- glattbügeln – iron something flat
- glatt gehen – go smoothly
- glatt rasieren – have a close shave
- glatt vergessen – completely forgetting
- glatt ablehnen – reject something outright
- glatt streichen – to flatten
- glatt rühren – beat something until smooth (like soup)
- glatt laufen – be plain sailing
- glatt rechts stricken – knit in stocking stitch
Example sentences
Wegen Glatteis kommt es zu vielen Unfällen.
Because of black ice, there are many accidents.
Zum Glück ist alles glattgegangen.
Luckily, everything went smoothly.
Ich habe glatt vergessen, dich anzurufen.
I completely forgot to call you.
Er hat das Angebot glatt abgelehnt.
He flat-out rejected the offer.
Der Gehweg ist eisglatt.
The pavement is icy smooth.
And some idioms
Von jetzt an geht alles glatt.
From now on it’s all plain sailing.
Das ist eine glatte Lüge!
That’s a downright lie!
Das traue ich ihm glatt zu.
I wouldn’t put it past him.
Das hat mich glatt umgehauen.
That really floored me.
Da rollt’s dir glatt die Zehennägel auf!
That’s enough to make your toes curl!
As you can see, from icy pavements to flat-out lies, glatt proves once again how expressive German compounds can be – and why learning vocabulary in context really matters.
Want more seasonal German vocabulary explained simply? You’re in the right place. Just ask me, and if I can do it my answer will be
Mach ich glatt! ???? Will do!
What can you do with these sentences to remember them?
You can bookmark this post or make a vocabulary list with them. You can do that with any paper or electronic notebook. Or you could buy my notebook which I designed specially for German vocab learners. It has space for vocabulary lists and sentences. You can even choose one of two colours 😊
