Kafkaesque

English

Etymology

From Kafka +‎ -esque, after writer Franz Kafka.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkæfkəˈɛsk/, (intrusive R) /ˌkæfkəˈɹɛsk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑfkəˈɛsk/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɛsk
• Hyphenation: Kaf‧ka‧esque

Adjective

Kafkaesque (comparative more Kafkaesque, superlative most Kafkaesque)

1. Marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity.

   Kafkaesque bureaucracies

   • 2001, David Flusser, Jesus (3d ed; Jerusalem: Magnes), →ISBN, page 250:

     In the end, Jesus is not only a Kafkaesque, lonely, holy man, abandoned in his death and despised by his own people, but his teaching is not even considered to be like that of the Jewish Sages.

   • 2011, L. Donskis, Modernity in Crisis: A Dialogue on the Culture of Belonging:

     The world is increasingly becoming a Single Central Europe with its Kafkaesque anonymity, Musilesque human-traits-free individuality, or the divided individual without individuality and indivisibility, Orwellesque Newspeak and total control, if not manufacturing, of history.

2. Marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of looming danger.
3. In the manner of something written by Franz Kafka.

Related terms

• Kafkaian
• Kafkatrap
• Kafkian

Translations

marked by menacing complexity

• Afrikaans: kafkaesk, kafkaagtig
• Arabic: كافايكي m
• Catalan: kafkià (ca) m, kafkiana (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: kafkovský (cs)
• Danish: kafkask (da)
• Dutch: kafkaësk (nl), kafkaiaans (nl)
• Estonian: kafkalik
• Finnish: kafkamainen (fi)
• French: kafkaïen (fr)
• Galician: kafkiano m, kafkiana f
• German: kafkaesk (de)
• Greek: καφκικός (el) (kafkikós)
• Hebrew: קפקאי (he) (kafka'i)
• Hindi: काफ़कएस्क (kāfkaesk)
• Italian: kafkiano (it)
• Japanese: カフカ的 (Kafukateki)
• Korean: 카프카적이다 (kapeukajeogida)
• Lithuanian: kafkiškas
• Macedonian: кафкијански (kafkijanski)
• Norwegian: kafkask (no)
• Persian: کافکاوار (kâfkâvâr), کافکاطور (kâfkâtor)
• Polish: kafkowski m
• Portuguese: kafkiano (pt)
• Russian: кафкиа́нский (ru) (kafkiánskij)
• Serbo-Croatian: kafkijanski (sh)
• Spanish: kafkiano (es)
• Swedish: kafkaartad (sv), Kafkaartad

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} kafkaartad (sv)

See also

• Dickensian
• Orwellian