Word of the day: Wahnsinnig

Why do I need to know wahnsinnig?

Most basically, this word would be used to describe someone who’s not in the right mind.

But you’re more likely to hear it used colloquially to describe anything that’s dramatic, unexpected or beyond belief.

What does it mean?

Wahnsinnig, pronounced like this, is a descriptor that the Cambridge German-English dictionary sums up as meaning mad or crazy.

But similar to how the English word “crazy” can be used in both positive or pejorative ways, you’ll hear wahnsinnig used in a mix of good and bad contexts. So it’s worth taking a second to unpack the different ways it can be used.

The Duden German dictionary assigns four specific definitions for wahnsinnig:

The first is “suffering from insanity.” Similar to the English word “insane” it was a medical term for mentally ill people that is now outdated.

The second definition is “unreasonable”. This could be applied to a crazy plan, for example. Like if your friend wanted to take an overnight train from Berlin to Austria for a day of skiing, and then come back on another train immediately in the afternoon to go to the club that night. “Wahnsinn!” would be a reasonable response.

Duden’s third definition is "excessively large, strong, violent or intense”. This could be applied to an excessively painful procedure, a very large sum of money or a crazy amount of traffic on the Autobahn.

Finally, wahnsinnig can also be applied to the excessively good or beautiful. In this sense, you can describe a concert you really liked as ‘crazy good’ or describe your favourite vacation spot as ‘insanely beautiful’.

It's worth noting that people often use the nour form of the word, which is (der) Wahnsinn.

E.g. "Die Mietpreise sind Wahnsinn" (The rents are insane).

Use it like this:

Wow, dieser Döner Kebap ist wahnsinnig gut!

Wow, this döner kebab is crazy good!

Haben Sie die Super-Bowl-Halbzeitshow gesehen? Es war der totale Wahnsinn.

Did you catch the Super Bowl half time show? It was totally insane.