Low German

American  

noun

1. the West Germanic languages not included in the High German group, as English, Dutch, Flemish, or Plattdeutsch. LG, L.G.

2. Plattdeutsch.

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Low German British  

noun

1. Also called: Plattdeutsch.   LG.  a language of N Germany, spoken esp in rural areas: more closely related to Dutch than to standard High German See also German High German

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Etymology

Origin of Low German

First recorded in 1835–45

Compare meaning

How does low-german compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• High German vs. Low German

Example Sentences

The Mennonites' native language is typically Plautdietsch, a unique blend of Low German, Prussian dialects and Dutch.

From Reuters • May 19, 2022

She speaks softly in her native Low German - a dialect hundreds of years old.

From BBC • May 15, 2019

Their first language is Plautdietsch, or Low German, an archaic unwritten dialect that dates back to sixteenth-century Polish Prussia, where many of their ancestors settled after persecution drove them from home.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 18, 2019

He wrote in Latin, whose word for snowflake is “nix,” which in Kepler’s Low German also meant “nothing.”

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2013

Attempts were also made in Low German districts, though at a later stage of this period, to unify the dialects and raise them to the level of an accepted literary language.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 7 "Geoponici" to "Germany" by Various