Meaning & use
Maus
Last updated
Meanings
proper nounproper
A graphic novel by Art Spiegelman that tells his father's Holocaust story using animal characters.
Grammar: Used as a title, so it takes a capital letter and no article: 'I read Maus last year.'
Patterns
- read Maus
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
Maus is often taught in schools as an introduction to Holocaust history.
She wrote an essay comparing Maus with other graphic novels.
The library keeps two copies of Maus, and both are usually checked out.
nouncountablerare
The German word for a mouse, sometimes used in English in names or titles.
Grammar: Rare in general English; appears mainly in German phrases or as a name.
The word 'Maus' on the sign meant that this was the mouse house at the zoo.
He learned that 'Maus' is German for mouse.
Word forms
| plural | Maus volumes |
|---|
Common combinations
- read Maus
- Many students read Maus in their history class.
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Maus by Art Spiegelman won a special Pulitzer Prize.
- a page from Maus
- The teacher showed a page from Maus on the screen.
Commonly confused: Maus or mouse? Maus or Mauss?
Maus vs mouse
The English word for the small animal; Maus is the German word and also the title of the graphic novel.
Maus vs Mauss
A surname (for example the anthropologist Marcel Mauss), spelled with a double s.
Practice
What is Maus?
Choose one answer.
Maus is best known as Art Spiegelman's graphic novel about the Holocaust. It is not a place, an animal species, or a museum, although the German word 'Maus' does mean mouse.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Maus”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.