Mehrheits

Mehrheits is a bound morpheme used in German to indicate relation to the majority. It derives from the noun Mehrheit, which denotes the number or opinion held by more than half of a group. In modern German, Mehrheits- appears as a prefix in many compound nouns and adjectives—e.g., Mehrheitsbeschluss, Mehrheitsentscheidung, Mehrheitsmeinung—where it signals that the concept is determined by or attributed to the majority rather than a minority.

Common usages concern politics, law, and public discourse. A Mehrheitsbeschluss is a decision adopted by the majority of participants in a deliberative body; a Mehrheitsmeinung refers to the opinion held by most members; a Mehrheitspartei is a faction that controls a majority of seats in a parliament; a Mehrheitswahl or Mehrheitswahlrecht describes electoral arrangements that award power to the person or party securing a majority rather than seats in proportion to votes.

Usage notes: Mehrheits- forms contrast with proportional or mixed systems in discussions of democratic legitimacy and minority rights. The plural noun for the concept is Mehrheiten, meaning “majorities.” The bound prefix Mehrheits- is not used as a standalone noun; it functions to form terms that specify relation to the majority, in political, legal, and administrative contexts. Related terms include Mehrheit, Mehrheiten, and, in comparative discussions, Verhältniswahl (proportional representation) and Konsensdemokratie (consensus democracy).