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kaputte

Kaputte is the inflected form of the German adjective kaputt, meaning broken, damaged, or worn out. It is commonly used in colloquial speech to describe objects, systems, or situations that no longer function properly. As an attributive adjective, kaputt changes its ending according to gender, article, and number. With a definite article in singular, it appears as kaputte (der kaputte Mann, die kaputte Lampe, das kaputte Auto); in the plural it becomes kaputten (die kaputten Lampen). With an indefinite article, forms include ein kaputter Wagen (masculine), eine kaputte Lampe (feminine), and ein kaputtes Telefon (neuter). Predicatively, as in Die Lampe ist kaputt, the word remains in its base form.

Common uses extend to both concrete and figurative meanings. Examples include kaputte Lampe (a broken lamp),

Etymology of kaputt is uncertain, but the word has been part of German for many decades and

Synonyms and related terms include defekt, beschädigt, and zerstört, with antonyms such as intakt, funktionsfähig, and

kaputte
Stimmung
(damaged
mood),
or
kaputtes
System
(damaged
system).
The
term
is
widely
understood
throughout
German-speaking
regions
and
is
often
employed
to
convey
a
casual
or
emphatic
tone.
is
widely
recognized
as
a
loanword
in
the
language.
It
also
appears
in
neighboring
languages
and
in
popular
culture
with
similar
meanings.
unversehrt.
Kaputt
remains
a
staple
descriptor
in
everyday
language
for
indicating
malfunction
or
compromised
condition.