herrenvolk

See also: Herrenvolk

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From German Herrenvolk, from Herr (“lord, master, gentleman”) +‎ -en- +‎ Volk (“folk, people”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhɛɹənfəʊk/, /ˈhɛɹənfɒlk/, enPR: hĕrʹən-fōk, hĕrʹən-fŏlk
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈhɛɹənfoʊk/, /ˈhɛɹənfɔlk/, enPR: hĕrʹən-fōk, hĕrʹən-fôlk
  • Hyphenation: her‧ren‧volk

Noun

herrenvolk (plural herrenvolks or herrenvolker)

  1. A master race, especially with reference to Nazi ideology. [from 20th c.]
    • 1995 [1954], Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial, page 59:
      In their position halfway between the blacks and the white Herrenvolk, they are bound to be unstable, they are petty bourgeois to the core, all of them.
    • 2003, George M. Fredrickson, The Historical Construction of Race and Citizenship in the United States‎, page 14:
      The political system that was emerging has been aptly described as a 'Herrenvolk democracy', a formally democratic political system in which voting and office holding is limited to members of a dominant ethno-racial group.

Derived terms

Translations
master race — see master race
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