Berliner

See also: berliner

English

Etymology

The first sense is either from German Berliner (“native or inhabitant of Berlin”) or formed in English from Berlin +‎ -er. The second sense is from German Berliner (“doughnut”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɚˈlɪnɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəˈlɪnə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

Berliner (plural Berliners)

1. A native or inhabitant of Berlin.
2. A doughnut (donut) with a sweet filling.

   Synonym: jelly doughnut

3. (journalism) A newspaper format with pages normally measuring about 315 by 470 millimetres (12.4 in × 18.5 inches), slightly taller and wider than a tabloid but narrower and shorter than a broadsheet.

   Synonym: midi

Synonyms

• (person): Berlinian, Berlinese
• (filled doughnut): bismarck, Burlington bun, jambuster, jelly doughnut

Translations

native or inhabitant of Berlin

• Asturian: berlinés (ast), berlinesa (ast)
• Belarusian: берлі́нец m (bjerlínjec), берлі́нка f (bjerlínka)
• Breton: Berlinad (br) m, Berliniz (br) m pl, Berlinadez (br) f, Berlinadezed (br) f pl
• Bulgarian: берлинча́нин m (berlinčánin), берлинча́нка f (berlinčánka)
• Catalan: berlinès (ca) m, berlinesa (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 柏林人 (Bólínrén)

• Czech: Berlíňan (cs) m
• Danish: berliner (da) c
• Dutch: Berlijner (nl) m, Berlijnse (nl) f, Berlijnerin (nl) f
• Esperanto: berlinano
• Finnish: berliiniläinen (fi)
• French: Berlinois (fr) m, Berlinoise (fr) f
• Galician: berlinés (gl) m
• Georgian: ბერლინელი (berlineli)
• German: Berliner (de) m, Berlinerin (de) f
• Greek: Βερολινέζος (el) m (Verolinézos), Βερολινέζα (el) f (Verolinéza)
• Italian: berlinese (it) m or f
• Low German:

  German Low German: Berliner m

• Marathi: बर्लिनकर m (barlinkar)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: berliner (no) m

  Nynorsk: berlinar m

• Portuguese: berlinense (pt) m or f, berlinês (pt) m
• Romanian: berlinez m, berlineză f
• Russian: берли́нец (ru) m (berlínec), берли́нка (ru) f (berlínka)
• Sicilian: birrinisi m, birrinisa f
• Spanish: berlinés (es) m, berlinesa (es) f
• Swedish: berlinare c
• Turkish: Berlinli

doughnut (donut) with a sweet filling

• Asturian: bomba f
• Catalan: berlina (ca) f
• Danish: berliner (da) c, berlinerpfannkuchen c
• Dutch: berlinerbol (nl) m
• Esperanto: benjeto
• Finnish: hillomunkki (fi)
• French: boule de Berlin (fr) f
• German: Berliner (de) m, Pfannkuchen (de) m, Berliner Pfannkuchen m; Fannkuchen (Berlinese)

  Alemannic German: Chrapfe m

  Bavarian: Krapfen

• Italian: berlingozzo m, berlinese (it) m, bombolone (it) m, bomba (it) f, graffa (it) f, krapfen (it) m
• Marathi: बर्लिनर m (barlinar)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: berlinerbolle m

  Nynorsk: berlinerbolle m

• Polish: pączek (pl) m
• Portuguese: bola-de-berlim f, bola-de-Berlim f, bola de berlim f, bola de Berlim f (Portugal), sonho (pt) m (Brazil)
• Russian: берлинер (berliner)
• Spanish: berlinesa (es) f
• Swedish: berlinermunk c, berliner c, munk (sv) c
• Turkish: Alman pastası
• Ukrainian: берлінський пончик m (berlinsʹkyj pončyk)

German

Alternative forms

• Berl. (abbreviation)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛʁˈliːnɐ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ber‧li‧ner

Etymology 1

From Berlin +‎ -er.

Noun

Berliner m (strong, genitive Berliners, plural Berliner, feminine Berlinerin)

1. Berliner (male or of unspecified sex) (a native or inhabitant of Berlin)

Declension

Declension of Berliner [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Berliner	die	Berliner
genitive	eines	des	Berliners	der	Berliner
dative	einem	dem	Berliner	den	Berlinern
accusative	einen	den	Berliner	die	Berliner

Derived terms

• berlinerisch
• berlinern
• Ostberliner
• Wahlberliner
• Westberliner

Etymology 2

From Berlin +‎ -er.

Adjective

Berliner (indeclinable, no predicative form)

1. (relational) of Berlin

   Besucher finden die Berliner Museen sehr interessant.

   Visitors find Berlin's museums very interesting.

Usage notes

• Words like this are considered indeclinable adjectives, as noted by Duden, DWDS and other modern German references, but are capitalized because they originated as genitive plurals of substantives. See -er for more.

Alternative forms

• berliner (adjective, dated)

Derived terms

• Berliner Blau
• Ostberliner (e.g. die Ostberliner Bevölkerung)
• Westberliner

Etymology 3

Anderthalb Berliner

Ellipsis of Berliner Pfannkuchen and/or Berliner Ballen.

Noun

Berliner m (strong, genitive Berliners, plural Berliner)

1. Berliner (a pastry similar to a doughnut (donut), with a sweet filling)

   Synonyms: Berliner Ballen, Krapfen, Kräppel, Pfannkuchen, Berliner Pfannkuchen

Usage notes

• Berliner is overall the most common word, but there is much regional variation.

Declension

Declension of Berliner [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Berliner	die	Berliner
genitive	eines	des	Berliners	der	Berliner
dative	einem	dem	Berliner	den	Berlinern
accusative	einen	den	Berliner	die	Berliner

Further reading

• “Berliner”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[2] (in German)
• “Berliner (Adjektiv)” in Duden online
• “Berliner (Einwohner von Berlin)” in Duden online
• “Berliner (Pfannkuchen)” in Duden online

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

German Berlin

Proto-Indo-European *wer-

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Germanic *warjaną

Proto-Germanic *warjaz

▲

Proto-Germanic *-ārijazinflu.

Old High German -āri

Middle High German -ære

German -er

German Berlinerbor.

Polish Berliner

Borrowed from German Berliner.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛrˈli.nɛr/
• Rhymes: -inɛr
• Syllabification: Ber‧li‧ner

Proper noun

Berliner m pers

1. a male surname from German

Declension

Declension of Berliner

	singular	plural
nominative	Berliner	Berlinerowie
genitive	Berlinera	Berlinerów
dative	Berlinerowi	Berlinerom
accusative	Berlinera	Berlinerów
instrumental	Berlinerem	Berlinerami
locative	Berlinerze	Berlinerach
vocative	Berlinerze	Berlinerowie

Proper noun

Berliner f (indeclinable)

1. a female surname from German

Further reading

• “Berliner”, in Internetowy słownik nazwisk w Polsce [Internet dictionary of surnames in Poland], 2025–2030