Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

descendant

German translation:

Nachkomme

Added to glossary by Emily Batcher (X)
Jan 19, 2007 21:54
17 yrs ago
English term

descendant

English to German Law/Patents Law (general) language in a will
This is a female descendant of the person who died. Context: "You are a beneficiary since you are a descendant of your mother"... I find "Nachkomme" when I look online, but if this is indeed the right word, I need to know the feminine form of this word (maybe it's the same?) Thanks in advance!
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Edith Kelly

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Proposed translations

+7
16 mins
Selected

Nachkomme

nothing wrong with that....sie ist ein Nachkomme der Mutter...in plain German...sie ist die Tochter ihrer Mutter.
Peer comment(s):

agree traintrans (X) : "Nachkomme" ist genau der richtige Ausdruck!
2 mins
agree KARIN ISBELL
14 mins
agree Klaus Urban
7 hrs
agree Carolin Haase
11 hrs
agree Steffen Walter
13 hrs
agree Edith Kelly
13 hrs
agree erika rubinstein
13 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
19 mins

Nachkomme

I'm not native in German, but I don't think this word has a feminine form, because "Nachkommerin" means something else. Don't want to sound sexist or something, but I feel like the current trend in German to always mention a fem. form along with the masculine is kinda stupid. The masc. form is representative for both genders in many IDE languages.
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Nach|kom|me, der; -n, -n [mhd. nachkome, auch= Nachfolger]: Lebewesen (bes. Mensch), das in gerader Linie von einem anderen Lebewesen abstammt: keine, viele -n haben; er ist ohne -n gestorben.

© Duden - Deutsches Universalwörterbuch, 5. Aufl. Mannheim 2003 [CD-ROM].
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+1
49 mins

Nachkomme, Nachfahrin

Nachkomme is absolutely correct - for the male as well as the female descendentant. Another possible translation that gives you the option to distinguish between the sexes is "Nachfahre" for the male and "Nachfahrin" for the female. Lots of examples can be found by google.de. Nachfahre/Nachfahrin sounds slightly antiquated a quite formal, but is still commonly used.

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Note added at 52 mins (2007-01-19 22:46:54 GMT)
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If I was doing your translation, I would certainly prefer the term Nachfahrin!
Example sentence:

Die Nachfahrin von Christian Anderson ...

Peer comment(s):

agree Kai Fiebach (Dipl.Ing.)
15 hrs
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