Mädchen - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (2024)

• Mägdchen (obsolete)

From Middle High German magedichīn, meidichīn, from Old High German *magadihhīn or calqued from Middle Low German mēgedeken, megedekīn, both from Proto-West Germanic *magaþukīn. Equivalent to Magd +‎ -chen.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛːtçən/ (prescriptive standard; used naturally in western Germany and Switzerland)
• IPA^(key): /ˈmeːtçən/ (overall more common; particularly northern and eastern regions)

• Audio:

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• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -ɛːtçən

Mädchenn (strong, genitive Mädchens, plural Mädchen)

1. girl
2. maiden

• Since Mädchen is a grammatically neuter noun, all preceding articles, determiners, and adjectives take neuter forms: ein kleines Mädchen (“a little girl”). This rule is followed throughout all registers of German.
• There is more variation concerning pronouns referring back to Mädchen. These are usually neuter within the same sentence: Das Mädchen, das eben hier war, hat seine Tasche vergessen. – “The girl who was just here, forgot her purse.” (But feminine ihre would be acceptable in colloquial usage.) It is quite common, however, to use feminine pronouns in following sentences: Siehst du das Mädchen, das da steht? Kennst du die? – “Do you see the girl who [neuter] is standing there? Do you know her [feminine]?” (But neuter es would be acceptable in literary usage.)
• Mädchen is typically used to refer to young women up to the age of 30. Past this age it is uncommon (unlike English girl) – the related term Mädel is more widely used colloquially for adult women.

• Mädeln (colloquial)
• Mädken, Mädlen (regional)

• (by gender) Bubm, Bubem (Austrian, Swiss), Jungem, Knabem
• (by age) Frauf, Greisinf

• “Mädchen” in Duden online
• “Mädchen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “Mädchen”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

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