Ufer

German

Etymology

From Middle High German uover, ūver, ūber, possibly from northern Old High German *uofar, but usually considered a borrowing from Middle Low German ōver, ȫver, from Old Saxon *ōvar, *ōvir, from Proto-Germanic *ōferaz. Cognate with Dutch oever, Low German Över, English over (“shore, riverbank”). The native High German word for “shore” is Gestade.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈuːfəʁ/, [ˈʔuː.fɐ]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ufer

Noun

Ufer n (strong, genitive Ufers, plural Ufer)

1. shore, shoreline
   • 1913, Walther Kabel, Ein gefährliches Abenteuer, Georg E. Nagel, page 4:

     Die See lag wie ein Spiegel da, und nur hin und wieder rauschte eine Brandungswelle gegen das sandige Ufer.

     The sea lay there like a mirror, and only now and then a breaking wave swept against the sandy shore.

2. (of a river) bank

Declension

Declension of Ufer [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Ufer	die	Ufer
genitive	eines	des	Ufers	der	Ufer
dative	einem	dem	Ufer	den	Ufern
accusative	ein	das	Ufer	die	Ufer

Derived terms

• Flussufer n (“riverbank”)
• über die Ufer treten (“to overflow its banks”)
• anderes Ufer (“being gay, queerness”)

Further reading

• “Ufer”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)
• “Ufer” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Ufer” in Duden online