Flacher

Flacher is the comparative form of the German adjective flach, meaning flat, level, or shallow. It is used to compare two surfaces, depths, or other qualities described as flat or shallow. For example, Der Teich ist flacher als der See means the pond is shallower than the lake.

In standard German, flacher inflects according to adjective declension and can appear in attributive or predicative position. With a definite article, for example der flache Strand; with an indefinite article, ein flacher Hügel; with no determiner, flacher Boden. The endings vary by gender, case, and determiner, yielding forms such as flache Fläche (feminine), flacher Boden (masculine), or flaches Gewässer (neuter) in appropriate contexts.

Flacher is commonly used in everyday language to describe physical characteristics of terrain, bodies of water, or objects that are comparatively flat or shallow. In technical or geographic contexts it may describe surfaces, cross-sections, or depths, for instance a flacher Grund or flacher Uferbereich. The term is interchangeable with its root flach in many descriptions, while the comparative form emphasizes a relative difference.

Etymologically, flacher derives from the German word flach, which traces back to Old High German and shares cognates with related Germanic words meaning flat or smooth. In English, the corresponding adjective is flat, and the comparative is flatter or flatter in sense depending on context.

As a linguistic form, flacher also appears in surnames or place names in German-speaking regions, though it is not widely used as a common noun beyond its standard grammatical function. Context determines whether it means “more flat” in a physical sense or serves as part of a larger name or descriptor.