Kram

See also: Appendix:Variations of "kram"

German

Etymology

From Middle High German krām (“merchant tent; wares”), from Old High German krām (“merchant tent; tent cloth”), probably ultimately borrowed from Slavic, such as Old Church Slavonic грамъ (gramŭ, “pub, inn”) or чрѣмъ (črěmŭ, “tent”).

The semantic development is “tent cloth” → “merchant tent” → “shop” → “wares” → “stuff”. Cognate with Dutch kraam (“booth, stall”). and Yiddish קראָם (krom, “shop”). More at crame.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁaːm/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Kram m (strong, genitive Krames or Krams, no plural)

1. (colloquial, derogatory) stuff

   Synonyms: Krempel, Zeug; see also Thesaurus:Zeug

2. (archaic) little shop; booth; stall

Declension

Declension of Kram [sg-only, masculine, strong]

	singular
	indef.	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Kram
genitive	eines	des	Krames, Krams
dative	einem	dem	Kram, Krame1
accusative	einen	den	Kram

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• den Kram hinschmeißen
• einem nicht in den Kram passen
• kramen
• Krämer
• Kramladen
• Papierkram
• Süßkram

 

Descendants

• → Kashubian: króm
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic script: кра́ма
  • Latin script: kráma

Further reading

• “Kram” in Duden online
• “Kram” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Kram on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de