The Meaning Behind The Word ‘Nazi’ Is Shockingly Unexpected

While it’s a term we’ve all heard before, the true meaning behind the word ‘Nazi’ will surprise a lot of people.

Nazism is the socio-political ideology commonly associated with Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, who governed Nazi Germany from the early 1930s until 1945.

It’s a form of fascism that incorporates many different ideologies into one, including anti-Semitism, eugenics, scientific racism and anti-communism.

While the term ‘Neo-Nazi’ has since been applied to modern far-right groups that share similarities with the Nazi regime, many don’t actually know the linguistic origins of the word.

‘The word ‘Nationalsozialist’ was shortened by Hitler’s opponents to ‘Nazi’, partly because ‘Natzi’ or ‘Nazi’ was a short form of the name ‘Ignatz’ (Ignatius) and had already been used in regional slang to describe a foolish or clumsy person,’ the Tweet reads.

Users flocked to the Twitter account – which has more than 1.3 million followers and is run by the team behind BBC TV quiz show QI – to comment on the surprising fact.

One Twitter user wrote, ‘Which is why it’s so funny that the Nazis in Amazon’s The Man in the High Castle refer to themselves as Nazis’.

‘The name stuck as it was appropriate, just like Tory,’ added another.

A third commented, ‘This must have been a really small region, never heard of this before.’