sonder

See also: sönder, sønder, and sonder-

English

Etymology

Coined by American author and neologist John Koenig in 2012, whose project, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, aims to come up with new words for emotions that currently lack words. Inspired by German sonder- (“special”) and French sonder (“to probe”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɑndɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɒndə/
• Rhymes: -ɒndə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: son‧der

Noun

sonder (uncountable)

1. (neologism) The profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one's own, which they are constantly living despite one's personal lack of awareness of it.
   • 2012 December, John Buysse, “On 2nd thought, we do have linked lives”, in The Daily Illini, volume 142, number 68,5, University of Illinois, page 4A:

     I had a sonder, a realization that the random girl sitting next to me inside of Starbucks might have a fantastic life or she might be dealing with a very ill family member.

   • 2013, Annie Cohen, "A Deeper Understanding", Panorama (Ladue Horton Watkins High School, St. Louis, Missouri), Volume 62, Issue 3, 14 October 2013, page 14:

     We need to have a "sonder" moment, where we realize that we aren't the only ones with feelings, dreams, regrets and hopes.

   • 2015, Emily Neiman, Sonder: Clara's Story‎^[3], iUniverse, →ISBN:

     I knew the feeling of sonder my whole life. […] Every time I stopped what I was doing and just watched people, this feeling of breathlessness would wash over me.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:sonder.

Anagrams

• Doners, Drones, RDS-EON, Rodens, doners, drones, nerdos, redons, renods, snored, sorned

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch zonder, from Middle Dutch sonder, from Old Dutch sunder, from Proto-Germanic *sundraz. Cognate with English sunder.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔn.dər/

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

sonder

1. without

Danish

Noun

sonder c pl

1. plural indefinite of sonde

Verb

sonder or sondér

1. imperative of sondere

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French sonder, from Old French sonder (“to plumb”), from sonde (“sounding line”), from Old English sund- (“sounding”), as in sundġierd (“sounding-rod”), sundlīne (“sounding-line, lead”), sundrāp (“sounding-rope, lead”), from Old English sund (“ocean, sea”), from Proto-West Germanic *sund, from Proto-Germanic *sundą (“a swim, body of water, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bʰ)- (“to be unsteady, swim”). Cognate with Old Norse sund (“swimming; strait, sound”). More at sound.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɔ̃.de/

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

sonder

1. (transitive) to probe (test with a probe)
2. (transitive) to probe (test the depth of something)
   1. to sound (use sound waves to establish the depth)
3. (transitive) to probe (look carefully around)
4. (transitive) to probe (ask someone many questions, in order to find something out)
5. (meteorology) to survey and take measurements using a weather balloon
6. to survey (carry out a survey or poll)
7. (intransitive) to dive down

Conjugation

Conjugation of sonder (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	sonder
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	sondant /sɔ̃.dɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		sondé /sɔ̃.de/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	sonde /sɔ̃d/	sondes /sɔ̃d/	sonde /sɔ̃d/	sondons /sɔ̃.dɔ̃/	sondez /sɔ̃.de/	sondent /sɔ̃d/
	imperfect	sondais /sɔ̃.dɛ/	sondais /sɔ̃.dɛ/	sondait /sɔ̃.dɛ/	sondions /sɔ̃.djɔ̃/	sondiez /sɔ̃.dje/	sondaient /sɔ̃.dɛ/
	past historic2	sondai /sɔ̃.de/	sondas /sɔ̃.da/	sonda /sɔ̃.da/	sondâmes /sɔ̃.dam/	sondâtes /sɔ̃.dat/	sondèrent /sɔ̃.dɛʁ/
	future	sonderai /sɔ̃.dʁe/	sonderas /sɔ̃.dʁa/	sondera /sɔ̃.dʁa/	sonderons /sɔ̃.dʁɔ̃/	sonderez /sɔ̃.dʁe/	sonderont /sɔ̃.dʁɔ̃/
	conditional	sonderais /sɔ̃.dʁɛ/	sonderais /sɔ̃.dʁɛ/	sonderait /sɔ̃.dʁɛ/	sonderions /sɔ̃.də.ʁjɔ̃/	sonderiez /sɔ̃.də.ʁje/	sonderaient /sɔ̃.dʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	sonde /sɔ̃d/	sondes /sɔ̃d/	sonde /sɔ̃d/	sondions /sɔ̃.djɔ̃/	sondiez /sɔ̃.dje/	sondent /sɔ̃d/
	imperfect2	sondasse /sɔ̃.das/	sondasses /sɔ̃.das/	sondât /sɔ̃.da/	sondassions /sɔ̃.da.sjɔ̃/	sondassiez /sɔ̃.da.sje/	sondassent /sɔ̃.das/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	sonde /sɔ̃d/	—	sondons /sɔ̃.dɔ̃/	sondez /sɔ̃.de/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• sondage
• sonde
• sondé

Descendants

• → German: sondieren
  • → Russian: зонди́ровать (zondírovatʹ)

Further reading

• “sonder”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• endors, rondes

German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *sundraz (“isolated, particular, alone”), from Proto-Indo-European *snter-, *seni-, *senu-, *san- (“apart, without, for oneself”). Cognate to Latin sine (“without”), English sunder (“separate, different”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɔndɐ/

• Audio

  (file)

Preposition

sonder (governs the accusative)

1. (archaic) without; except; not including

   Synonyms: außer, exklusive, ohne

Derived terms

• sondergleichen

Related terms

• besonders
• sonder-
• sonderbar
• sonderlich

Further reading

• “sonder” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “sonder” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon

Malay

Alternative forms

• zonder
• سوندر
• زوندر

Etymology

From Dutch zonder, from Middle Dutch sonder, from Old Dutch sunder, from Proto-Germanic *sundraz.

Preposition

sonder (Jawi spelling سوندر)

1. (Netherlands, Indonesia) without (not having)

Synonyms

• tanpa / تنڤا
• tidak ada / تيدق اد
• tidak ber- / تيدق بر-

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch sunder, from Proto-Germanic *sundraz.

Preposition

sonder [+accusative]

1. without
2. except (for)

Descendants

• Dutch: zonder
  • Afrikaans: sonder
  • Berbice Creole Dutch: sondro
  • Jersey Dutch: zonder
  • Negerhollands: sonder, sondu
  • → Aukan: sondee
  • → Caribbean Javanese: sonder
  • → Malay: sonder
  • → Indonesian: sonder, zonder
  • → Saramaccan: sondò
  • → Sranan Tongo: sondro
• Limburgish: zónger

Further reading

• “sonder (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “sonder (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Norman

Etymology

From Old French sonder, from sonde (“sounding line”), from Old English [Term?], from Proto-Germanic *sundą (“a swim, body of water, sound”), from Proto-Indo-European *swem(bh)- (“to be unsteady, swim”).

Verb

sonder

1. (Jersey) to sound

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

sonder m pl

1. indefinite plural of sonde

Swedish

Noun

sonder

1. indefinite plural of sond