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 Low-German name for the Milky-way is kau-pat—i.e., kuh-pfad, cow-path.

From The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879 by Various

Why should these few thousand people not have surrendered long ago this ‘useless remnant of an unschooled dialect,’ considering they learn at the same time Low and High German, or Low-German and Danish?

From Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)

We have traces of a certain amount of literature in Saxon or Low-German from that time onward through the Middle Ages up to the seventeenth century.

From Lectures on The Science of Language by Müller, Max

Low-German, however, is not to be mistaken for vulgar German.

From Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)

The Saxon, spoken in the north of Germany, continues its manifold existence to the present day in the Low-German dialects, in Frisian, in Dutch, and in English.

From Chips From A German Workshop. Vol. III. Essays on Literature, Biography, and Antiquities by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)