Kater

What it means

1. 1.

   A hangover. 'Einen Kater haben' is the set phrase; 'Katerfrühstück' is the greasy breakfast that follows.

2. 2.

   Extended to non-alcoholic letdowns: the Wahlkater after an election result, the Kater after a holiday ends.

Literally: Tomcat.

Examples with translations

• Ich hab einen fürchterlichen Kater.

  I've got a shocking hangover.

• Nach der Firmenfeier hatte das halbe Büro Kater.

  Half the office was hungover after the work party.

Where it comes from

Almost certainly not the cat. The likeliest derivation is from Katarrh ('catarrh'), 19th-century Leipzig student slang for the morning-after malaise, reshaped by local pronunciation into a word that happened to already exist. The tomcat story is folk etymology, but it is so well established that Germans now picture the cat, and cartoonists draw one.

First attested: 19th century, Leipzig students

Other forms

Similar terms:

Brummschädel