Ein Stück Land, das von Wasser umgeben ist.
A piece of land surrounded by water.
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See how the word “Insel” is used in sentences
Sie verbrachten eine Woche auf einer kleinen Insel. — They spent a week on a small island.
Wie viele Menschen leben auf der Insel? — How many people live on the island?
Diese Inseln sind nur mit dem Boot zu erreichen. — These islands can only be reached by boat.
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Download the app for free German vocabulary testInsel comes straight from Latin insula, as does French île and Spanish isla — while English island came the other way, from Old English īegland, and only picked up its silent s later by mistaken analogy with isle.
The compounds work as in English: Kücheninsel is a kitchen island, Verkehrsinsel a traffic island. And the German for a peninsula shows the language's habit plainly: Halbinsel, half-island.
Halbinsel peninsula
Literally half-island, and a good example of German building rather than borrowing.
Eiland isle
Poetic and rare, and — unlike Insel — related to English island by descent.
Küste coast
A mainland has coast on one side, an island all round.
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