materiell

Materiell is a term used in several Germanic languages to denote material, tangible, or physical in contrast to the intangible. In Norwegian and Swedish, materiell functions as an adjective meaning “material” or “tangible” and appears in contexts such as material damage or tangible assets; in related languages and technical usage, similar forms carry the same general sense. The term also appears in German- and Dutch-speaking environments with a parallel meaning, particularly in legal, accounting, and military technical language.

In economics and law, materiell is commonly used to distinguish physical property from immateriell (intangible) assets. Tangible or materiell assets include real estate, machinery, vehicles, and inventory, whereas immateriell assets cover items such as intellectual property, goodwill, and licenses. This distinction helps address depreciation, insurance, taxation, and reporting requirements.

In insurance and risk assessment, material damage (often rendered with a cognate form of materiell) refers to loss or damage to physical property rather than to purely financial or intangible losses. In military and logistics contexts, related terms describe equipment and supplies, collectively known as materiel in some languages, with materiell serving as a local variant or cognate form.

Etymologically, the concept derives from Latin materialis and has entered several European languages through French and other intermediaries, leading to cognate forms that retain the core meaning of physical substance or equipment. See also: tangible asset, immaterial asset, equipment, property.