What does the German suffix “-träger” mean?

Wortschatz zum Thema Brille und Sehstärke

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A2 German listening practice · German · Picked for people who know a little

💡 Did you know?
Brillenträger
German word-building
a “glasses-wearer” — someone who wears glasses, in one neat word

A Brillenträger is simply someone who wears glasses, from Brille (“glasses”) plus -träger. That ending comes from tragen, “to wear” or “to carry,” and it turns any object into “the person who wears or bears it.” So instead of a whole phrase, German bundles the wearer and the worn thing into a single compound noun. The feminine form is Brillenträgerin, exactly as the clip asks.

Once you spot -träger, you find it everywhere: Bartträger (beard-wearer), Fackelträger (torch-bearer), Bannerträger (banner-bearer), Namensträger (name-bearer, the person who carries a name). One suffix, a whole shelf of “the one who carries X” words. It leans slightly formal or descriptive, which is why you meet it in surveys, labels, and reports more than in casual chat.

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this A2 German listening practice video?

91.2%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common German words
Most of the words in this video are common German words.

How common in written German

85.3%
Top 1,000
91.2%
Top 2,000
98.5%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken German

87.9%
Top 1,000
100%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in German.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.

weitsichtig
2×
Not in top 5,000
farsighted
blaulichtfilter
1×
Not in top 5,000
blue light filter
brillenträger
1×
Not in top 5,000
glasses wearer (male)
computerbildschirme
1×
Not in top 5,000
computer monitor

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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