Klassenkameradin

Klassenkameradin is a German noun meaning a female classmate—the female counterpart to Klassenkamerad. It refers to a girl or woman who shares the same class in a school, university, or other educational setting.

The term is a compound of Klassen and Kamerad, where Kamerad denotes a companion or comrade. The masculine form is Klassenkamerad; the feminine form is Klassenkameradin. In the plural, the forms are Klassenkameraden for males or mixed groups and Klassenkameradinnen for females. In contexts with mixed-gender classes, the masculine form is often used generically, but the feminine form is used when the referent is specifically female.

Usage and nuance: Klassenkameradin is primarily used in school-related discourse to identify a female classmate within the same class. It is more specific than Schulkamerad, which can refer to a classmate or schoolmate more generally. In everyday language both Klassesn and Schulkameraden may be used, with Klassenkameradin emphasizing the class-level relation.

Inclusive language: Contemporary German often adopts gender-inclusive forms to address all classmates, for example Klassenkameradinnen und Klassenkameraden. Other variants include using the gendered forms combined with a dash (Klassenkameradinnen/-kameraden) or more neutral constructions in specific contexts. The choice of form depends on style guidelines, formality, and the speaker’s intention to foreground gender.