How do you say “Dead as a doornail” in German?
The closest natural German equivalent is mausetot, which literally means “mouse-dead”. English speakers use dead as a doornail to mean to be completely dead or no longer working. An emphatic German word for completely dead. For a broken device, “völlig tot” usually makes the intended joke clearer. Register: informal. Usage frequency: common.
Closest natural German
mausetot
/ˈmaʊzətoːt/
- Literal meaning
- “mouse-dead”
- Register
- informal
- How often it's used
- common
- Equivalence
Close equivalent
86 out of 100
What a native German speaker would actually say
“Mausetot” is blunt and can sound comic. It suits the dead-beetle example, but is a poor choice when you want to express sympathy.
A machine described as “völlig tot” shows no signs of working. “Kaputt” is the ordinary choice when you simply mean broken.
How close is the meaning?
- Meaning4 out of 5
- Tone5 out of 5
- Context4 out of 5
- Literal similarity2 out of 5
These ratings are editorial approximations, not measurements.
In context
English
The beetle on the windowsill was dead as a doornail.
German
Der Käfer auf der Fensterbank war mausetot.
English
I tried new batteries, but the old radio was dead as a doornail.
German
Ich habe neue Batterien ausprobiert, aber das alte Radio war völlig tot.
Related expressions
Last updated 2026-11-13