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Stück. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
Stück, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
Stück in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
Stück you have here. The definition of the word
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German
Etymology
Inherited from Middle High German stücke, from Old High German stucki, from Proto-West Germanic *stukkī, from Proto-Germanic *stukkiją. Cognate with Hunsrik Stick, Dutch stuk, Luxembourgish Stéck, Yiddish שטיק (shtik), dialectal English steck (“piece”). Doublet of Stuck.
Pronunciation
Noun
Stück n (strong, genitive Stückes or Stücks, plural Stücke or Stücker or Stück, diminutive Stückchen n or Stücklein n)
- (invariant) one, item, piece (of something countable; often untranslated in English)
Ich brauche noch Glühbirnen. Geben Sie mir bitte drei Stück!- I also need light bulbs. Give me three, please!
- Wie viel Stück wollen Sie? ― How many do you want?
- Die Äpfel kosten 50 Cent das Stück. ― The apples are 50 cents apiece.
- (invariant) head (a single animal)
- 200 Stück Vieh ― 200 head of cattle
- (declinable or invariant) piece (portion of something bigger or of an uncountable mass)
- Er schneidet das Fleisch in Stücke. ― He's cutting the meat in pieces.
- Ich nehme zwei Stück[e] Zucker. ― I take two lumps of sugar.
- Ich habe drei Stück[e] Kuchen mitgebracht. ― I brought three pieces of cake.
- 1932, Erich Mühsam, Die Befreiung der Gesellschaft vom Staat, in: Erich Mühsam: Prosaschriften II, Verlag europäische ideen Berlin (1978), page 276:
Nur noch der Bauer hat diese innige Berührung mit dem Lande, die es zu einem Stück seiner selbst macht, wie er sich als Bestandteil des von ihm beackerten Grundes empfindet.- Only the farmer still has this intimate contact with the land, which makes the land a piece of him, as he feels himself as an integral part of the ground that is ploughed by him.
- Something of artistic or historic value; piece of art (of any kind, but less common of novels and films)
- Dieser Tisch ist ein besonders schönes Stück. ― This table is a particularly beautiful piece.
- Spiel doch bitte mal ein Stück von den Beatles. ― Play a Beatles song, please.
- Der Regisseur versteht das Stück nicht. ― The director doesn’t understand the play.
- (derogatory and/or sexual) a person, often female
- Sie ist ein heißes Stück. ― She's a hot thing.
- Er ist ein verlogenes Stück. ― He’s a lying bastard.
- (military, obsolete) piece (artillery gun)
- Synonym: Geschütz
Usage notes
- The general plural is Stücke.
- The unchanged plural Stück is used after numerals and after wie viel (“how many”) and so viel (“this many”) when meaning “one, piece, item” (sense 1) and, alternatively, when meaning “piece” (sense 2). A colloquial plural Stücker may be used alternatively, chiefly in the southern half of the language area.
- Additionally, more colloquial diminutive forms include western German Stückelchen and Austro-Bavarian Stückerl.
Declension
Declension of Stück
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singular
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plural
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indef.
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def.
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noun
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def.
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noun
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| nominative
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ein
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das
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Stück
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die
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Stücke, Stücker, Stück
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| genitive
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eines
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des
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Stückes, Stücks
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der
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Stücke, Stücker, Stück
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| dative
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einem
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dem
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Stück, Stücke1
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den
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Stücken, Stückern, Stück
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| accusative
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ein
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das
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Stück
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die
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Stücke, Stücker, Stück
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Hyponyms
Derived terms
Descendants
Further reading