Antonymy in German

Antonyms in German are words that have different sounds and spellings and are characterized by the opposite of lexical meanings . Examples of German antonyms : gut - schlecht, alt - jung, Tod - Leben, geben - nehmen , etc.

The basis of antonymy is the contrast of words, a reflection of differences in phenomena, objects, qualities and actions, uniform in nature. Antonyms can be defined by such aspects as conversion ( verkaufen - kaufen, gewinnen - verlieren ), mutual exclusion ( Ebbe - Flut, verheiratet - ledig ), complementarity ( bettelarm - steinreich, heiß - kalt ).

Opposition or opposition can also be perceived differently. So, the words Vater and Mutter , Arm and Fuß are not antonyms, but in life they can be contrasted. Also, one word can have several antonyms with different meanings. For example, for the adjective lustig, the antonyms are langweilig (1), traurig, unlustig, bedrückt (2). Even greater differences between the antonyms are observed in polysemantic words . Some specific nouns ( Haus, Apfel, Tafel ), colors (except for schwarz and weiß ), parts of a whole ( Kopf, Arm, Bauch ) and interjections do not have antonyms at all.

Antonymy is necessary in the German language to express opposition, antagonism, expression of completeness. It is used as a chiasm (a stylistic figure that gives special expressiveness to mutual exceptions) or an oxymoron (a path combining incompatible objects, properties and actions).