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this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2024
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The german word for aeroplane is similar, "Flugzeug" directly translates to "flying thing". Helicopter is also fun, "Hubschrauber" translates to "lifting screwer".
I don't think it means "thing", but rather "Gerät" as in 2 c):
https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Zeug
It evolved from a word for "pulling"
I guess for "Flugzeug", 'device' works better but I don't think I have ever thought about it in that way. From my experience usage usually goes more like this: "Pack dein Zeug zusammen wir gehen weiter." which I think best translates to 'Stuff' or 'things'. Zeug is an interesting word though. It is also used for the harness of a draft animal ("sich ins Zeug legen"), it's bridle ("Zaumzeug"), bed linen ("Bettzeug"), work tools ("Werkzeug") , or as a word for nonsense ("red kein dummes Zeug"). I would say it started, as you said, as a word for device but became a slightly negative word for 'Stuff'.
Not to be confused with Hubschraubär.
Now I am curious as to what the Chinese characters in their word for helicopter mean, since panda is "bear cat," owl is "cat headed eagle," and peacock is "thunder chicken," IIRC.