Dünkirchen

German

Alternative forms

Dunkerque

Etymology

From Dutch Duinkerke or its Middle Dutch predecessor. Analysable as Düne (“dune”) + -kirchen (“-church”). The component -kirchen is a loan translation; the component Dün- may be as well, but it may merely represent the Middle Dutch and still dialectal pronunciation of Dutch -ui- as /yː/.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌdyːnˈkɪʁ.çən/

Proper noun

Dünkirchen n (proper noun, strong, genitive Dünkirchens)

Dunkirk (Dunkerque), a coastal town in northern France, originally Flemish-speaking.