ersatz
noun
- a substitute or imitation (usually, an inferior article instead of the real thing)
adjective
- being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation
- not genuine; fake
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɛəzæts/ / /ˈɜːsæts/ / /ˈɛəɹsɑts/
adj
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ud-s-? Proto-Indo-European *h₂u-s-? Proto-Germanic *uz- Proto-West Germanic *uʀ- Proto-Indo-European *sed- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *sodéyeti Proto-Germanic *satjaną Proto-West Germanic *sattjan Proto-West Germanic *uʀsattjan Old High German irsezzen Middle High German ersetzen German ersetzenbf. German Ersatzbor. English ersatz Borrowed from German Ersatz (“replacement, substitute”), a back-formation from ersetzen (“to replace, to substitute”).
- An inauthentic or inadequate substitute or imitation.
“Back then, we could only get ersatz coffee.”
“In these days of “rolled” gold, electro-plate, and undetectable pearls, it is curious that almost the only honest Ersatz material known to the goldsmith's art should be utterly forgotten.”
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ud-s-? Proto-Indo-European *h₂u-s-? Proto-Germanic *uz- Proto-West Germanic *uʀ- Proto-Indo-European *sed- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *sodéyeti Proto-Germanic *satjaną Proto-West Germanic *sattjan Proto-West Germanic *uʀsattjan Old High German irsezzen Middle High German ersetzen German ersetzenbf. German Ersatzbor. English ersatz Borrowed from German Ersatz (“replacement, substitute”), a back-formation from ersetzen (“to replace, to substitute”).
- Something made in imitation; an effigy or substitute.
“The important point I want to emphasize here is that, regardless of a Government agency's conception of what a consumer expects of a food item, by and large the consumer detests the use of chemicals in foods as substitutes for nutritious, wholesome natural ingredients which improve flavor and quality. The consumer has little to gain in purchasing a product containing questionable ersatzes if his life is to be endangered or he will suffer ill effects.”
“What intrigues us is what will happen when the ersatzes for the ersatzes come along. Will characters start substituting for actors, bona fide dogs for barking ladies; will people start looking at people again instead of television and at nature instead of at documentaries?”