Zeug

English

Etymology

Borrowed from German Zeug.

Proper noun

Zeug (plural Zeugs)

1. A surname from German.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Zeug is the 80419^th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 236 individuals. Zeug is most common among White (93.64%) individuals.

Further reading

• Hanks, Patrick, editor (2003), “Zeug”, in Dictionary of American Family Names, volume 3, New York City: Oxford University Press, →ISBN.
• Forebears

German

Alternative forms

• Zeugs (chiefly informal and pejorative)

Etymology

From Middle High German ziuc (“stuff, gear”), from Old High German giziug, from Proto-West Germanic *teug, from Proto-Germanic *teugą. Compare Dutch tuig (“tool, gear”), Old Norse tygi (“gear”). More at toy.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡sɔʏ̯k/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /t͡sɔʏ̯ç/ (northern and central Germany; now chiefly colloquial)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

Zeug n (strong, genitive Zeuges or Zeugs, plural Zeuge)

1. stuff, gear, equipment

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:Zeug

   Coordinate terms: Ding, Gegenstand, Sache

2. material

   Synonym: Material

3. fabric, clothing, clothes

   Synonym: Stoff

4. rubbish, anything bad or harmful

Usage notes

• The plural Zeuge is quite rare since Zeug is normally an uncountable word. Some compounds, however, are countable (e.g. Fahrzeug) or may be countable depending on the context (e.g. Werkzeug). An alternate obsolete plural is Zeuger.
• Until the 19th century, Zeug was often treated as masculine by southern writers, except in the sense “fabric”, where the masculine was very rare. This usage is now obsolete and Zeug is exclusively neuter in contemporary German.

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Czech: cajk

Further reading

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