politischen

Politischen is the inflected form of the German adjective politisch, meaning political. In German, adjectives change their endings to reflect gender, number, and case, so politisch can appear as politischen in certain grammatical contexts. The form is common in discussions of government, policy, parties, and public life, where the adjective describes nouns in political terms.

Examples of its use with a definite article include: den politischen Mann (masculine singular, accusative), der politischen Partei (feminine singular, dative), des politischen Kindes (neuter singular, genitive), and den politischen Parteien (plural, dative or accusative). In environments without a determiner, the strong ending is used: politischer Mann, politische Partei, politisches Kind, politische Debatten. The ending -en is a typical weak-inflection that appears after definite articles, possessives, or other determiners.

Usage notes and nuance: politisch describes relation to politics or public affairs rather than asserting value. It occurs across academic, media, legal, and everyday language, from describing political systems and movements to discussing political scandals or policy debates. The term is neutral in itself, though it commonly appears in contexts that analyze governance, ideology, or civic life.

Etymology and related terms: politisch derives from Latin politicus, via French politique and related to English political. It is cognate with other Germanic and Romance forms that express the concept of public affairs and governance. The base term politisch can pair with a wide range of nouns to form phrases such as politische Theorie, politische Reformen, or in various inflected forms like politischen Debatten.