The Meaning of “mäßig”

Hello everyone,

and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we’ll take a look at the meaning of

mäßig

It’s only moderately interesting when you look it up in a dictionary but it’s an absolute beast when it comes to colloquial German.
Like… it’s really common there is what I mean, because you can use it to build all kinds of adjectives that sounds super idiomatic.

Today, we’ll learn how to do it, but not only that. We’ll also learn about where mäßig comes from and what other words there are in the family.

So if you’re ready, let’s jump right in.

Mäßig is a combination of the noun das Maß and the super common adjective ending -ig…. and an umlaut. Of course.
Das Maß (pronounced with a loooong a.. like in massage) comes from the ancient Indo-European root *med.
The original idea of this root is some sort of measuring, and this idea is still visible in all the words that comes from it… sometimes, like for meditate or medium it’s a bit abstract; for others it’s pretty obvious like for meter, metrics or measure.
And of course there’s a German side to that branch with the main verb being: messen.

The Family of “messen” and “Maß”

messen is the German word for to measure.

• Ein Einhornoskop misst die Coolheit von Tieren.
• A Unicornoscope measures the coolessity of animals.
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• Ich messe meine Küche aus, um zu gucken, ob die Kochinsel reinpassen würde.
• I take the dimensions of my kitchen to see whether the cooking island would fit.
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Of course there are prefix versions like abmessen, ausmessen or vermessen but the differences are marginal. And there are a few word based on messen like Blutdruckmesser (sphygmmanao… uhm… blood pressure gauge) , Durchmesser (diameter) or Brotmesser (bread knife)… wait… I’m not sure the last one fits in here… someone should look probably that up.
But anyways, das Maß or in plural Maße is basically what we obtain when we messen. Dimensions, size, measurements… the exact translation really depends on context.

• Wie sind die genauen Maße des Kühlschranks?
• What are the exact dimensions of the fridge?
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• Der flachste Flatscreen aller Zeiten in Maßen: 1,0 m x 0,6m x -0,2m
• The flattest flatscreen ever in numbers: 1,0 x 0,6 x -0,2
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• Der Manager trägt einen Maßanzug.
• The manager wears a bespoke/custom-made suit.
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Besides being the actual numbers, ein Maß can also be the thing you do the measuring with. This meaning is somewhat rare nowadays, but there are a few common idioms with it.

• Mein Chef misst oft mit zweierlei Maß, und jetzt ist das Maß voll!
• My boss often applies double standards, and now I have had enough!
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Oh that doesn’t sound good.

• Die Maß ist voll.
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This sounds much better…. because die Maß is a liter mug for beer, … or just a liter of beer. It’s especially common in Bavaria and at Oktoberfest (don’t forget to bring millions of Euro if you go there… a Maß is REALLY expansive there). Actually, all Maß used to be female a few centuries ago, but it changed to das Maß for some reason and just the very specific beer measure remained die… because of the Reinheitsgebot, I suppose.
All right.
Now, before we get to the third idea of Maß let’s quickly look at a few very common compounds.
The first one is die Maßnahme which translates to the measure in sense of taking steps, course of action.

• Die Stadt ergreift Maßnahmen zur Müllreduzierung.
• The town is taking measures for waste reduction.
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Then, there is das Augenmaß and if you translate it literally it doesn’t sound too precise. I mean… I wouldn’t want an architect to go like “Screw your ruler… I got my eyes.” But although it is objectively rather imprecise, for some reason Augenmaß is something very positive.

• Der Vermittler wird zur Lösung dieses Interessenkonflikts viel Augenmaß benötigen.
• The intermediary will need a good sense of proportion/good judgement to solve this conflict of interests.
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Finally, there is Maßstab. Literally, this is a measuring stick but the noun is used also in a more general sense of comparisons.

• Das Schiffsmodel ist im Maßstab 1 zu 100.
• The scale of the model ship is 1:100.
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• Was Models essen und wie Models auf Fotos aussehen, sollte kein Maßstab sein.
• What models eat and how models look on pictures shouldn’t be a “benchmark”.
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Cool.
Now for the third idea of Maß…and that is the idea of not extreme or moderation. A very common phrasing is in Maßen.

• In Maßen genossen kann Alkohol gesund sein.
• When enjoyed in moderation, alcohol can be healthy.
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• 15 Euro für eine Maß Bier ist maßlos übertrieben.
• 20 Dollars for a liter of beer is exorbitant/beyond all measure.
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• Manche Investmentbanker haben jedes Maß verloren.
• Some investment bankers have lost all sense of proportion/moderation.
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So…now we have a pretty good overview over Maß, Now it’s time to get to mäßig.
Yeay.

The Meaning of “mäßig”

The main meaning of mäßig itself as well as for related words like gemäßigt or Mäßigung is the idea of moderation, not extreme.

• Der Politiker gehört zur gemäßigten Rechten.
• The politician belongs to the moderate right.
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• Der Politiker ruft die Konflikparteien zur Mäßigung auf.
• The politician has called for moderation of the conflicting parties.
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• Ich bin von dem Film nur mäßig begeistert.
• I am only moderately excited by the movie.
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• Morgen freundlich, aber nur mäßig warm. (common German weather report lingo)
• Tomorrow “friendly” but only moderately warm.
  (no idea how this would be in real English :)
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For some reason, mäßig is usually used in combination with something positive. I don’t think I’ve ever heard mäßig schlecht. Maybe that’s because as a stand alone word, mäßig is already slightly on the negative side.

• Bitte bewerten Sie unseren Service : 1 – sehr gut, 2 – gut, 3 – mäßig, 4 – unzureichend
• Please rate our service: 1 – very good, 2 – good, 3 – “meh!“, 4 – insufficient
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• Das Essen war mäßig, der Wein ein Skandal.
• The food was less than stellar, the wine was a disaster.
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There is also a verb mäßigen that has this moderation idea and there are a few words here and there, notably Ermäßigung, which translates to discount...but overall, this mäßig is only “mäßig often” used in daily life. But it can also be added to nouns… and maaaaan… our colloquial-meter is off the charts.

Building adjectives with “-mäßig”

So what does it mean?
Well… like the average German word, it has two meanings. Of course.
But they’re based on the same idea.
The stand alone mäßig was based in the idea of moderation, the ending-mäßig however has at its core just plain measure... as in metrics or size or dimensions.
So… based on that dinosauriermäßig would be having the metrics/scale of a dinosaur. And all we have to do now is to broaden the word “dimensions” and say it includes all kinds of features then have the first meaning:

• -like

Dinosauriermäßig or “dinosaurmeasury” simply means like a dinosaur or dinosaur-like. and that can refer all kinds of things…. the skin, the way of walking, the diet… whatever.
Now, the other meaning of -mäßig is:

• -wise

Hmm… -wise and -like don’t seem to have much in common. But the -wise-meaning actually does tie in with the whole measuring thing.

• “Wie läuft’s so bei dir?”
  “Jobmäßig super, beziehungsmäßig eher mäßig.”
• “How’s life these days?”
  “Well,job-wise it’s great, relationship-wise it’s rather meh.”
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In a way, the person is talking about different dimensions or measures of life here and gives a measure of how good this dimension or measure is.
So, it always has something to do with dimensions. Mäßig can compares them, then it is -like, or it can just refers to a one, like -wise.
And people use it with everything…. literally… I actually think, there is NO NOUN or NAME -mäßig hasn’t been attached to. Let’s just look at examples…

• Warum bist du denn so sommermäßig angezogen?
• Why are you dressed like it’s summer?
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• Ich bin hammermüde… partymäßig geht bei mir heute nicht mehr viel.
• I’m super tired… I won’t be doing much partying today.
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• Wie sieht’s denn bei dir geldmäßig aus?
• How’s your financial situation?
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There are many more where those come from… many many more.

• Dein Gedicht ist irgendwie voll so goethemäßig.
• Your poem’s like sooooo like goethe-like.
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• Goethemäßig hab’ ich nicht so Ahnung.. ich bin kein Musiktyp.
• Goethe-wise I don’t know all that much… I’m not a music person.
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• Strandbarmäßig war alles im grünen Bereich.
• Beachbar-wise everything was “in the green”.
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• Thomas ist zungenkussmäßig nicht so der große Künstler.
• Thomas is not that big of an artist when it comes to tongue kissing.
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• Der Konferenzraum wird für die Feier tischmäßig umstrukturiert.
• For the party, the conference room will be reorganized table-wise.
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I didn’t make these up… well I did, but people really do say (and write online) stuff like that. I googled every single word in these examples. In fact, I challenge you to find a noun that has no -mäßig version on Google.
And actually … nouns shmouns… who cares. People even use it with adjectives sometimes.

• In Berlin geht vegan-mäßig einiges ab.
• In Berlin there’s a lot going on vegan-wise.
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And even this:

• Das Ende fand ich etwas zu happymäßig.
• The ending was a bit too “happy-style” for my taste.
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Google has 145 results for happymäßig … you can check them out here. That’s how much people love their –mäßig. Is that correct German? Well, for sure not in writing. And even for spoken German it’s a stretch. But hey … it doesn’t matter! After all, it is spoken language, the smithy where the written language of tomorrow is forged.

You should definitely give this -mäßig a shot. Just because it’s colloquial, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It really has the potential to make you sound much more native-mäßig. I’m usually really surprised if someone who is learning German slips in one of these colloquial bits… it is always this moment of bonding …like… “Hey… you totally talk like I talk.”.
So… try to get a feel for –mäßig, and if you have a good situation, casually let one go. I certainly did. This morning in the break room, when all the idiots from accountin… wait… I … I sti…I think I just got really confused. Time to stop.

But I think mäßig-mäßig we’re done anyway. This was our look at the German word mäßig. It comes from das Maß and has the idea of measure in it.

As a stand alone it means something along the lines of in moderation and when attached to a noun, any noun really, it can either compare “measurements” or refer to a dimension or “measurement”. Or in other words, we can use it like-mäßig and wise-mäßig.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment. And of course I would love to read all your inventions and examples for mäßig-words, the more absurd the better :)
Hope you liked it and bis nächstes mal.