besonder

Besonder is a German term primarily found as a stem used in several related forms to express distinction or specificity. In contemporary usage it appears mainly in two ways: as the adverb besonders, meaning "especially" or "notably," and as a noun phrase such as das Besondere or die Besonderheit, meaning "the special thing" or "a peculiarity/feature." The adjective form is used with standard German endings depending on gender, case, and number, for example: ein besonderes Merkmal (a particularly notable feature) or eine besondere Geschichte (a special story). The phrase im Besonderen is common in formal style and means "in particular" or "especially."

Besonder is not typically used as a free-standing adjective in modern standard German. Instead, speakers usually rely on besonders for adverbial emphasis or on the noun forms das Besondere or die Besonderheit when referring to a distinctive quality or feature. In everyday language, one might say, for example, that a work has a unique quality or that a place has a particular charm, using the noun forms or other adjectives such as speziell or außergewöhnlich.

Etymologically, Besonder derives from the root sonder meaning "special" with the prefix be-, forming a stem that yields multiple related words. The common nouns Besondere and Besonderheit are created with standard German derivational suffixes and are widely used to denote what makes something stand out.

Related terms include besonders (adverb), Besonderheit (peculiarity/feature), and das Besondere (the special thing).