German word of the day: Zugezogene

What does Zugezogene mean?

Zugezogene (der Zugezogene for a man, die Zugezogene for a woman and die Zugezogenen for multiple) is a German noun meaning a newcomer, incomer or transplant.

It comes from the verb zuziehen, meaning “to move to” or “move into” a place.

The word is completely standard German and can appear everywhere from newspapers to village gossip.

Importantly, Zugezogene is most commonly used to describe people moving within Germany rather than people moving to Germany from abroad.

For international migration, many Germans are more likely to use words such as Zugewanderte (migrants or immigrants) or Einwanderer (immigrants).

Why do I need to know Zugezogene?

Foreign residents may occasionally wonder whether a frosty reception from neighbours or long-standing locals is connected to their nationality — and sometimes it might.

But Zugezogene offers reassuring evidence that someone arriving in Berlin from Düsseldorf, for example, could experience a similar chill in the air.

Perhaps it’s something to do with Germany’s relatively late political unification, or the enduring strength of regional identities. Whatever the reason, many communities here seem to draw a firm distinction between “locals” and “everyone else”.

Berlin provides the classic example. The eternal struggle between Ur-Berliner and Zugezogene has generated decades of jokes, complaints and newspaper columns. The stereotypical villain is often the Schwaben-Zugezogene, the Swabian transplant allegedly responsible for everything from rising rents to the disappearance of authentic Berlin culture.

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But Berlin is hardly unique. While Zugezogene is the standard word used throughout Germany, many regions have their own local equivalents.

In Bavaria, particularly around Munich, the dialect term Zuagraste literally means someone who has “drifted in” from elsewhere. In Cologne, newcomers are often called Imis. The name is widely said to derive from the phrase in the local dialect, ‘enne imiteete Kölsche‘ (an imitation Cologner) rather than Immigrant(en).

Meanwhile, Hamburg has Quiddje as its local term for someone who isn’t a native Hamburger.

Across Germany, it seems there’s an unspoken belief that belonging is something earned over time rather than all at once.

Use it like this:

In unserem Haus wohnen fast nur Zugezogene.

Almost everyone in our building comes from somewhere else.

Viele Ur-Berliner beschweren sich über die Zugezogenen.

Many native Berliners complain about the newcomers.

Er lebt seit zehn Jahren in Hamburg, gilt aber immer noch als Zugezogener.

He has lived in Hamburg for ten years but is still considered a newcomer.

Die Einheimischen und die Zugezogenen arbeiten inzwischen gut zusammen.

The locals and the newcomers now work well together.