1. A delicate dish made with eggs and cheese
   An insurance company that provides legal protection
2. A military maneuver meant to confuse an enemy
   A low-cost kind of patio furniture

Naturally, this is the plural of Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaft, which is an insurance company providing legal protection. Clearly, this is a valuable word for everyday conversations.

1. Stomach discomfort
   Fear of flying
2. Last-minute panic
   Dizziness

Literally "gate-closing panic", torschlusspanik refers to panic-related to time running out to get things done.

1. Excess weight from stress eating
   An unfortunate skin condition
2. Excess body hair
   An unusual odor

This translates as "grief bacon." It means you've gained some weight as a result of stress eating and it's probably a useful word in modern times.

1. An operation or procedure that is voluntary
   Facial reconstruction surgery
2. A method of treating an illness with exercise
   Regulation for the prescription of narcotics

How this word came to be is anyone's guess, but betäubungsmittelverschreibungsverordnung refers to a regulation that deals with prescribing things like anesthetics or narcotics.

1. A method of raising cattle without antibiotics
   A homemade mix of spices
2. Law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling
   A technique for cooking beef and vegetables in pastry

Apparently, this word isn't used very much (surprise!) but it does refer to the laws surrounding cattle and beef labeling.

1. A social security assistant trainee
   An apprentice chef at a family restaurant
2. An intern working in a visual arts medium
   A paperboy

Sozialversicherungsfachangestelltenauszubildender refers to a trainee assistant social insurance or security broker. The word sounds much more exciting than the job.

1. She sells seashells by the seashore.
   Seven wives for seven brothers
2. I scream you scream, we all scream for ice cream.
   777,777

Believe it or not, in German you just write out the whole number as one so that, the bigger the number is, the longer the word. This one is 777,777.

1. A small, omnivorous animal like a squirrel that lives in forests and is usually only seen at sunset.
   Association for Subordinate Officials of the Main Maintenance Building of the Danube Steam Shipping Electrical Services
2. The process of donating food items to charity that do not have a long shelf life and must, therefore, be used right away
   A milkshake

This word allegedly refers to the Association for Subordinate Officials of the Main Maintenance Building of the Danube Steam Shipping Electrical Services. It's only alleged because there's no proof such an association ever existed. This might just be an example of a word that "could" exist, even if what it refers to doesn't.

1. Auto liability insurance
   A beloved family pet
2. A guest room
   Shoes you wear indoors

Sometimes a long German word refers to basically an entire sentence full of ideas. This one is just car insurance.

1. A third date
   A short, impromptu vacation
2. A sweet dessert
   A gesture of friendship

Sometimes you need to show your friends how much you care, and a freundschaftsbezeigungen is a demonstration or token to show that friendship.

1. Keychain
   Matchbox
2. Handkerchief
   Loose change

How does a little box of matches turn into streichholzschächtelchen? That's either the power of fire or of German compound words.

1. Finger-tip feeling
   Frostbite
2. Thin sandwiches
   Refueling the car

The term "finger-tip feeling" isn't literal. It refers to an almost intuitive feeling or a kind of empathy with other people.

1. Losing your wallet
   Being abandoned by a free
2. Spring fatigue
   Leftovers

Basically, a way to refer to seasonal affective disorder, spring fatigue is a kind of weariness and depression that you feel as spring begins.

1. Late night hunger
   A wandering itch
2. Contagious yawns
   Shame on someone else's behalf

Fremdschämen is a pretty useful word these days. Think of all the cringe-inducing videos you've seen online and the shame you felt on behalf of those people. That's fremdschämen at work.

1. Rapid onset stomach discomfort after eating
   Making things worse as you try to make them better
2. Waking up just before your alarm goes off
   A traffic jam when you're already

This term is fun in an awkward way because who hasn't experienced a time when they were trying to help out and then somehow made everything worse as a result?

1. A person who follows too close
   Someone who breaks dishes
2. Someone who parks in the shade
   A person who lies constantly

While the literal translation of this word is "shade parker," what it means is a wimp. A person who parks in the shade is weak and can't handle the real world. You don't want to be a schattenparker, even though it's usually a good idea to actually park in the shade.

1. A face in need of a slap
   A traditional wrestling maneuver
2. A series of vulgar insults
   A weapon for hunting

This isn't the most polite thing in the world but apparently, some people just feel like they need to slap other people in the face and then they made a word to express that.

1. A large meal
   A confusing mess
2. A lawsuit
   A runaway pet

This word is fun to say, even if what it refers to is not super fun. The word derives its meaning from "dirty linen" and means a jumble, hodgepodge or mess.

1. Overcooked food
   Damaged electronics
2. Dirty laundry
   Dragon fodder

The literal translation is "dragon fodder" but what it actually refers to is a gift you give to your spouse or partner as a kind of apology. So you screwed up and got them this thing to try to make it better.

1. Stark naked
   Broken chips in a bag
2. Overcooked rice
   Car troubles

It's not too weird to have a single word to refer to being totally naked, even if it's a 5-syllable word that sounds kind of like a kitchen tool.

1. A recipe for vegetables
   Publication date
2. Song lyrics
   The distance from your home to your work

The publication date of a book is the kind of information you usually gloss over, so maybe that's why it's such a big word in German. It's hard to miss.

1. Freezing cold
   Hunger
2. Insomnia
   Empathy

Empathy is a pretty commonplace feeling, so maybe it's surprising that the word for it is so hard to wrap your head around.

1. Finished work
   All alone
2. Eating dinner
   On vacation

The fun part of being all alone in German is that the word is so long you always have something big and bulky to keep you company.

1. Eating with reckless abandon
   Going shopping with friends
2. Avoiding the sun at all costs
   Taking pleasure in someone else's pain

You're not technically supposed to take pleasure in someone else's pain, but every so often you see someone who you really don't like take a fall and you can't help but feel good about it.

1. Weather radar
   A street gang
2. A twin or duplicate
   A cooking pot

A doppelgänger usually just means a twin or double of some kind though to be very technical, it should also be a supernatural or evil double. So if you see one, try to avoid it. Unless you actually have a twin.

1. Desk murderer
   Terminal illness
2. An insult that makes someone cry
   Traffic accident

The term "desk murderer" sounds a little silly at first glance, but it's quite a disturbing concept. It refers to bureaucrats and state employees who sat at a desk and sanctioned the murder of many people.

1. A mutual understanding
   An insult
2. A killer argument
   A unique perspective

A killer argument is an argument killer. If you're in a heated debated with someone, you can bust out a totschlagargument and immediately shut the whole conversation down. It doesn't even need to be related to the topic at hand, just something so devastating that the other person has no comeback.

1. Sinusitis
   Migraines
2. A broken arm
   Insomnia

You can almost see the relation between Nasennebenhöhlenentzündung and sinusitis with the beginning of the word "nasal" in there, but then it really takes a left turn.

1. Talking on the phone
   Fighting
2. Working together
   Going on vacation

It's always important to cooperate and work together, so maybe it's good that the Germans have such a complex word for doing just that.

1. Understanding of life and death
   Self-evident truth or fact
2. Self-reflection
   Study of dreams

It seems a little ironic that selbstverständlichkeit means something self-evident or an obvious fact when that meaning itself is far from obvious or self-evident.

1. Small town cake baker
   Non-union auto mechanic
2. Head district chimney sweep
   Licensed dog groomer

Outside of Mary Poppins, there's probably not much need to talk about a head district chimney sweep, but if it ever comes up, there's a word for it.

1. A recluse or loner
   A police officer
2. A giant
   A scientist

If you describe someone with the word eigenbrötlerisch, you're describing someone who definitely doesn't want a lot of company and spends a lot of time alone, like a recluse.

1. Dinner guests
   Merry and drunk
2. Excited
   Stuffed with food

Feuchtfröhlich is a very unique and unusual term. It does mean merry, happy or jolly, but it's very much related to that feeling being caused by drinking alcohol.

1. A pair of boots
   A cupboard for food
2. Backyard
   A measurement of petting

In general, streicheleinheit means to pet or caress, but the literal translation is a unit of petting, so it's somehow supposed to be a measurement of the petting you do. Definitely a thing a cat would pay attention to.

1. A tool to create the ideal breaking point in an egg's shell
   A set of tiny, individual finger-sized gloves
2. A car that only sits one person
   A brush for cleaning your toothbrush

If there's a point for an eierschalensollbruchstellenverursache, it's to help you crack an egg in such a way that the shell doesn't splinter everywhere. Do you need that? Well, that's up to you.