blitzkrieg

See also: Blitzkrieg

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Blitzkrieg (literally “lightning war”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

blitzkrieg (plural blitzkriegs)

Tanks, motor vehicles, and aircraft are essential in bringing a blitzkrieg operation into success.

1. A fast military offensive, typically involving a large and highly mobile tank force with air support.

   Synonym: lightning war

   • 1968, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, “Sympathy for the Devil”, in Beggars Banquet, performed by Rolling Stones:

     I rode a tank, held a general's rank / When the Blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank

   • 2000 April 26, Walter A. McDougall, “Who Were We in Vietnam?”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 27 May 2015, retrieved 3 Aug. 2008:

     But news that the North Vietnamese had launched an invasion more akin to the blitzkrieg of Poland than to a Maoist "people's war," and had overrun my old base camp 30 miles up Thunder Road from Saigon, turned my heart to lead.

2. (figurative) Sudden activity; a flurry.
   • 2025 January 2, Simon Montlake, “Electing a speaker is first test for GOP with razor-thin control of House”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[2], archived from the original on 27 March 2025:

     President-elect Donald Trump has promised a blitzkrieg of executive actions and legislation after he takes office Jan. 20.

   • 2025 April 7, Simon Montlake, Caitlin Babcock, Ali Martin, Cameron Pugh, Jingnan Peng, “Is the anti-Trump ‘resistance’ starting to find its voice again?”, in The Christian Science Monitor‎^[3], archived from the original on 27 April 2025:

     Many Democrats have felt hopeless during a blitzkrieg of a presidency that is testing the limits of constitutional authority, including over the deportations of migrants, halting of congressionally approved spending, and punishment of universities accused of not protecting the rights of Jews during intense spells of pro-Palestinian activism.

Derived terms

• blitz
• clickskrieg
• glitzkrieg

Translations

fast military offensive

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: حَرْب خَاطِفَة f (ḥarb ḵāṭifa)
• Armenian: բլիցկրիգ (hy) (blicʻkrig), կայծակնային պատերազմ (kaycaknayin paterazm)
• Azerbaijani: ildırımsürətli müharibə, blitskriq
• Belarusian: бліцкры́г m (blickrýh), мала́нкавая вайна́ f (malánkavaja vajná)
• Bulgarian: светка́вична война́ f (svetkávična vojná)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 閃電戰 / 闪电战 (zh) (shǎndiànzhàn)

• Czech: blesková válka (cs) f
• Danish: blitzkrig (da) c, lynkrig c
• Dutch: bliksemoorlog (nl) m, blitzkrieg (nl) m
• Esperanto: fulmomilito
• Estonian: välksõda
• Finnish: salamasota
• French: blitzkrieg (fr) m, guerre éclair (fr) f
• Georgian: ბლიცკრიგი (blicḳrigi)
• German: Blitzkrieg (de) m
• Greek: κεραυνοβόλος πόλεμος m (keravnovólos pólemos)
• Hebrew: מִלְחֶמֶת בָּזָק (he) m (milkhémet bazák)
• Hungarian: villámháború (hu)
• Icelandic: leifturstríð n
• Italian: guerra lampo f, guerra celere f
• Japanese: 電撃戦 (でんげきせん, dengekisen)
• Khmer: សង្គ្រាមផ្លេកបន្ទោរ (sɑngkriəm phleik bɑntou)
• Korean: 전격전(電擊戰) (jeon'gyeokjeon)
• Latvian: zibenskarš m
• Lithuanian: blickrygas m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: blitskrig m, lynkrig (no) m

• Persian: حمله برق‌آسا (hamle-ye barq-âsâ)
• Polish: blitzkrieg (pl) m, wojna błyskawiczna f
• Portuguese: blitzkrieg (pt) m, guerra-relâmpago f
• Romanian: război fulger n, blitzkrieg n
• Russian: блицкри́г (ru) m (blickríg), молниено́сная война́ f (molnijenósnaja vojná)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бли̏цкрӣг m

  Latin: blȉckrīg (sh) m

• Slovak: blesková vojna f
• Slovene: bliskovita vojna f
• Spanish: guerra célere f, guerra relámpago f
• Swedish: blixtkrig (sv) c
• Tagalog: blitzkrig
• Tamil: மின்னலடித் தாக்குதல் (miṉṉalaṭit tākkutal)
• Thai: การโจมตีสายฟ้าแลบ (gaan-joom-dtii-sǎai-fáa-lɛ̂ɛp), บลิทซ์ครีค
• Turkish: yıldırım savaşı (tr)
• Ukrainian: бліцкри́г (uk) m (blickrýh), блискави́чна війна́ f (blyskavýčna vijná)
• Vietnamese: chiến tranh chớp nhoáng
• Yiddish: בליצקריג m (blitskrig)

See also

• sitzkrieg

Further reading

• blitzkrieg on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from German Blitzkrieg.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblitsˌkrik/, /ˈblɪts-/, /-krix/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: blitz‧krieg

Noun

blitzkrieg m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. blitzkrieg

Synonyms

• bliksemoorlog

Polish

blitzkrieg

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from German Blitzkrieg. First attested in 1936.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblit͡s.krik/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it͡skrik
• Syllabification: blitz‧krieg

Noun

blitzkrieg m inan

1. blitzkrieg (fast military offensive, typically involving a large and highly mobile tank force with air support)

   Synonym: wojna błyskawiczna

   taktyka blitzkriegu ― blitzkrieg tactic

   błyskawiczny blitzkrieg ― lightning fast blitzkrieg

   doktryna blitzkriegu ― blitzkrieg doctrine

   niemiecki blitzkrieg ― German blitzkrieg

   koncepcja blitzkriegu ― the concept of blitzkrieg

   strategia blitzkriegu ― blitzkrieg strategy

   teoria blitzkriegu ― blitzkrieg theory

   idea blitzkriegu ― blitzkrieg idea

Declension

Declension of blitzkrieg

	singular
nominative	blitzkrieg
genitive	blitzkriegu
dative	blitzkriegowi
accusative	blitzkrieg
instrumental	blitzkriegiem
locative	blitzkriegu
vocative	blitzkriegu

Further reading

• “blitzkrieg”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)
• blitzkrieg in PWN's encyclopedia

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from German Blitzkrieg.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /blitsˈkɾiɡ/, /blitsˈkɾi.ɡi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /blitsˈkɾiɡ/, /blitsˈkɾi.ɡi/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /blit͡ʃˈkɾiɡ/, /blit͡ʃˈkɾi.ɡi/

Noun

blitzkrieg f or m (plural blitzkriege)

1. blitzkrieg (fast military offensive)

   Synonym: guerra-relâmpago

Further reading

• “blitzkrieg”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “blitzkrieg”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Blitzkrieg.

Noun

blitzkrieg n (uncountable)

1. blitzkrieg

Declension

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	blitzkrieg	blitzkriegul
genitive-dative	blitzkrieg	blitzkriegului
vocative	blitzkriegule