8

I speak German on a daily basis and I don't know what to call the prongs of an electrical plug. This makes me so uncomfortable that I have to ask in English about it. I have searched the internet to find out, but couldn't find a schematic showing the name of the prongs in German. Are they "Zinken", "Zacken", "Sporne" or even something else? Who's the electrician to tell me?

an electrical plug showing the prongs prominently

and the original image link, although I don't expect it to last for a very long time:

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  • maybe it is helpful to add a picture to show the unknown part. Not because the answer sounds invalid - only to visualize it for future readers. – Shegit Brahm Jun 10 at 9:09
  • @ShegitBrahm for people who have never seen an electrical plug? – Jason C Jun 10 at 13:31
  • @JasonC: for the ones that realizes that dictionaries with Zacken and Zinken don't help to translate "those things" called prongs in english. Otherwise the question would be obsolete if a dictionary is sufficient. – Shegit Brahm Jun 10 at 14:07
  • 2
    @ShegitBrahm you know what, I am going to honor that request – thymaro Jun 10 at 14:11
23

These are called

Stifte (singular: der Stift)

or Kontaktstifte. There are Rundstifte like in continental Europe and Flachstifte like in the UK and the US.

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