Großes Leid oder Unglück.
Great suffering or unhappiness.
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See how the word “Elend” is used in sentences
Er lebte jahrelang im Elend. — He lived in misery for years.
Das Warten auf die Ergebnisse war die reinste Qual. — Waiting for the results was pure misery.
Erlös mich von der Qual und sag mir das Ergebnis. — Put me out of my misery and tell me the score.
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Download the app for free German vocabulary testElend is a heavy word, heavier than English misery. It carries destitution in it: das Elend der Flüchtlinge is not a mood but a condition, and the older meaning of the word was exile — Elend comes from a phrase meaning “other land”.
For the everyday sense, feeling wretched, German uses the adjective: mir geht es elend, ich fühle mich elend. And for the British colloquial sense of misery, a person who complains, German says Miesepeter or Spielverderber — a different word entirely.
Armut poverty
The material fact. Elend adds the suffering that comes with it.
Leid suffering, sorrow
Serious and often about a single blow. Elend is the long, grinding kind.
Miesepeter a moaner
What British English calls a misery. German uses a wholly different word for the person.
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