What does “los” mean in German?

Los is one of German’s smallest, busiest words. In the clip, Es war schon viel los means “there was already a lot going on” — the town was buzzing. On its own, los is the starting gun: Los geht’s! (“Off we go!”). And Was ist los? is both “What’s going on?” and, with a worried tone, “What’s wrong?” Same three letters, three everyday jobs.

As a verb prefix, los- means breaking away or setting off: losgehen (to get going), loslassen (to let go), loswerden (to get rid of something). It also works like English “-less” as an ending — arbeitslos (jobless), harmlos (harmless). One little word, a whole shelf of vocabulary.