German noun gender by ending

Start here: the compound rule

A compound noun takes the gender of its LAST element. No exceptions.

das Haus + die Tür	→ die Haustür
der Wein + das Glas	→ das Weinglas
die Arbeit + der Platz	→ der Arbeitsplatz

This is the single most valuable thing on the page, because it is generative — it works on words you have never seen before, and German builds new compounds constantly. The plural follows the last element too.

An honest word about the suffix rules

The endings below are near-certain when they apply, but they do not cover the language. Statistical analyses of German noun gender find that even a large rule set of ~50 suffixes classifies only around a third of common vocabulary, at roughly 94% accuracy.

So: learn these, use the compound rule, and accept that short everyday nouns — Tisch, Buch, Stadt, Hand — still have to be learned with their article. Anyone telling you the endings solve gender is overselling.

Feminine — safe to treat as absolute

Ending	Example
-ung	die Zeitung, die Wohnung, die Übung
-heit	die Freiheit, die Krankheit
-keit	die Möglichkeit, die Schwierigkeit
-schaft	die Freundschaft, die Wirtschaft
-tion / -sion	die Nation, die Diskussion
-tät	die Universität, die Qualität

The handful of counterexamples are single words that merely end in those letters without containing the suffix (der Sprung is not -ung). Not worth a caveat in use.

Neuter — safe to treat as absolute

Ending	Example
-chen	das Mädchen, das Brötchen
-lein	das Fräulein, das Büchlein
infinitive as noun	das Essen, das Leben, das Lernen

The two diminutives beat meaning. That is why it is das Mädchen — the ending wins over the fact that it denotes a girl. Every learner meets this once.

Masculine — safe to treat as absolute

Ending	Example
-ling	der Frühling, der Schmetterling
-ismus	der Kapitalismus, der Tourismus

Strong tendencies — reliable enough to bet on, not to rely on

Ending	Gender	Notable exceptions
-ie, -enz, -anz, -ei, -ik, -ur	feminine	das Abitur
-um, -ment, -ma, -tum	neuter	der Reichtum, der Irrtum, der Moment, die Firma
-o	neuter	der Euro, die Avocado
Ge- (collective)	neuter	der Gedanke, die Geschichte, die Gefahr
-nis	neuter	die Erlaubnis, die Kenntnis, die Erkenntnis, die Wildnis
-ant, -ent, -ist, -or, -eur	masculine	—
-er (agent noun only)	masculine	see below
-ig, -ich	masculine	—

Also masculine by category: days, months, seasons (der Montag, der Sommer), compass points and weather (der Norden, der Regen — but das Wetter), alcoholic drinks (der Wein — but das Bier). Also neuter by category: letters and colours as nouns (das A, das Blau), most metals (das Gold — but der Stahl).

The two traps on this page

-er only works for agent nouns. Der Lehrer is masculine because it means "the one who teaches," not because of the letters. Plain nouns ending in -er scatter: die Mutter, das Fenster, das Wasser, die Butter, das Messer.

-e is not a feminine rule. It leans feminine (die Blume, die Lampe) but there is a whole masculine class behind it — der Junge, der Name, der Kunde (pronouns and the n-declension) — plus neuters like das Ende. Do not treat -e as a rule.