künstliche

Künstliche is the attributive form of the German adjective künstlich, meaning artificial or synthetic. It describes things that are man-made or do not occur in nature, in contrast to natural (natürlich). The term is used across science, technology, philosophy and everyday language to distinguish human-created or synthetic origins from natural ones.

Grammatically, künstlich follows standard German adjective declension. In front of a noun it takes endings appropriate to gender, case and number (for example: eine künstliche Pflanze, künstliche Materialien). When used as a noun in its own right, the word can be capitalized as das Künstliche, especially in philosophical or theoretical contexts. In proper names or fixed expressions such as Künstliche Intelligenz, capitalization treats the whole term as a unit.

Common usages span multiple fields. In technology and science, artificial or synthetic variants are described with Künstliche Intelligenz (artificial intelligence), künstliche Lebensformen (artificial life forms), and künstliche Materialien (synthetic materials). In everyday language, phrases like künstliche Blumen (artificial flowers) or künstliche Nahrung (artificial food) illustrate the broad application of the term. The concept also appears in debates about ethics, sustainability and the relationship between natural and human-made systems.

See also: Kunst, künstlich, Natürliche, Künstliche Intelligenz.