düster

• deister (Moselle Franconian)

From north-western Middle High German diuster, from Old High German thiustri, from Proto-West Germanic *þiustrī.

While Standard German düster is a borrowing from Low German, the word is native in Central Franconian and some bordering dialects of Rhine Franconian; compare Luxembourgish däischter.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdyːstʌ/

düster (masculine düstere, feminine düster, comparative düsterer, superlative et düsterste)

1. (Ripuarian) dark (without light)

   Synonym: donkel

   • 2006, “Happy End”‎^[1]performed by BAP:

     Ich jläuv, die Klappsetz wore rut bespannt.
     Ich ben nit secher, doch ich jläuv met Samp.
     Vürhang met Stääne drop,
     ’T wood düster un hä jing op.

     I think the folding seats were covered in red.
     I’m not sure, but I think in velvet.
     A curtain with stars on it,
     All went dark and then it opened.

• Central Franconian originally made a fairly neat distinction between donkel (“dark in colour”) and düster (“dark through lack of light”). Contemporary usage, however, has been influenced by Standard German such that donkel can now have both senses.

• duster (chiefly in the literal sense and more informal)

From Middle Low German dûster, from Old Saxon thiustri, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *þiustrī (“dark, without light”). The word also exists in parts of West Central German (compare Luxembourgish däischter), which probably facilitated the borrowing; but the standardised form is definitely from Low German in view of its lacking diphthongisation.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdyːstər/, [ˈdyːstɐ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: düs‧ter; before the 1996 reform: dü‧ster

düster (strong nominative masculine singular düsterer, comparative düsterer or düstrer, superlative am düstersten)

1. dark, dim, gloomy, obscure
2. (figurative) cheerless, melancholy, somber

• The general word for “dark” is dunkel, which is usual in all contexts and refers to both light and colour. The words finster and düster are chiefly restricted to the sense “lacking light”; both of them often have an undertone of eeriness or somberness. In contemporary German, finster usually means a virtual lack of light, while düster tends to mean a dim twilight.
• The contracted comparative düstrer is per se rare, but more commonly seen in the inflected forms, e.g. düstrere, düstrerer (in order to avoid the three reduced syllables and reduplication in düsterere, düstererer).

• “düster” in Duden online
• “düster” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

• duster

From Middle Low German dü̂ster, from Old Saxon thiustri (“dark”). Akin to Old High German dinstar.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdystə/
• IPA^(key): /ˈdystæ/ (Mecklenburg)

düster

1. dark, obscure
2. cheerless, melancholy, somber
3. of no good intention, evil