Alpenrepublik

German

Etymology

Alpen +‎ Republik, literally “Alpine republic”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈalpn̩ʁepuˌbliːk], [-ˌblɪk]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Alpenrepublik f (genitive Alpenrepublik, plural Alpenrepubliken) (informal, especially journalistic)

1. Austria

   Synonym: Österreich

2. (less often) Switzerland

   Synonym: Schweiz

3. (in the plural) Austria and Switzerland

Usage notes

• Use of Switzerland is much rarer than Austria. While both countries are “alpine republics”, the official name of Austria is Republik Österreich, whereas Switzerland is called Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft. Accordingly, Switzerland will usually be dubbed die Eidgenossenschaft in those contexts where Alpenrepublik is used of Austria.

Declension

Declension of Alpenrepublik [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Alpenrepublik	die	Alpenrepubliken
genitive	einer	der	Alpenrepublik	der	Alpenrepubliken
dative	einer	der	Alpenrepublik	den	Alpenrepubliken
accusative	eine	die	Alpenrepublik	die	Alpenrepubliken

Further reading

• Alpenrepublik on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• “Alpenrepublik” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Alpenrepublik” in Duden online
• “Alpenrepublik” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon