For notifications of new posts on language, translation, energy and culture, you can subcribe to our blog, with comments and discussion of articles very welcome on our social media accounts.
Globe on a smartphone screen

Weltanschauung

/by

Weltanschauung is the view a person, group or nation has of the world, meaning the attitude towards it they bring to a situation. This can be a philosophical, moral, religious or aesthetic attitude developed over time, which frames or shapes their interpretation of phenomena, or their reactions to events. Weltanschauung may be somewhat more comprehensive in meaning than the English terms worldview or outlook, and has had particular usage in the field of philosophy.

The German noun Welt means world, the German verb anschauen means to look at or inspect, and the German suffix -ung creates a noun. German nouns are normally capitalised, but not when adopted into English, but Weltanschauung is usually found in English with an uppercase W, as you can see in the Ngram chart below. Note the steep decline in usage since the mid-1970s, which could be the subject of further research.