surreal

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *úp

Proto-Indo-European *-er

Proto-Indo-European *upér

Proto-Italic *super

Latin super

Latin super-

Old French sur-

French sur-

Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁-der.

Proto-Indo-European *(H)reh₁ís

Proto-Italic *reis

Classical Latin rēs

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Late Latin reālisder.

Old French reel

Middle French real

French réel

Proto-Indo-European *-id-

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti

Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō)

Proto-Indo-European *-mos

Proto-Indo-European *-mós

Ancient Greek -μός (-mós)

Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)bor.

Latin -ismuslbor.

French -isme

French réalisme

French surréalismebor.

English surrealismbf.

English surreal

A back-formation from surrealism, equivalent to sur- +‎ real.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /səˈɹiː(.ə)l/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • (UK, US) IPA^(key): /syːˈɹiː(.ə)l/ (rare, hyperforeignism)
• Hyphenation: sur‧re‧al
• Rhymes: -iːl

Adjective

surreal (comparative more surreal, superlative most surreal)

1. Resembling a dream: fantastic and incongruous.

   Synonyms: dreamlike, (art) surrealist

   surreal picture/sound/art

   a surreal experience

   The movie had a dreamlike, surreal atmosphere.

   • 2016 December 19, Dave Bry, “'Surreal' is Merriam-Webster's word of the year. Sounds about right”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Three weeks after the second Time meltdown cover, one day after Leonard Cohen died, Donald Trump pulled off one of the greatest upsets in American political history. That’s when 2016 went from being a bad dream to full-on waking nightmare, one that’s just gotten worse and worse, and more and more surreal.

   • 2017 June 16, Spencer Kornhaber, “The Dizzying, Surreal Journey of ‘The Leftovers’”, in The Atlantic‎^[2], →ISSN:

     Incomprehensible violence and the tragedy that follows, the implication goes, inject a surreal dimension into existence. The conspiracy theories and social upheavals spawned by our own world’s mass departures—and, Lindelof has noted, electoral surprises—suggest that the strangeness of The Leftovers is mostly one of degree, not kind.

   • 2025, Karen Hao, Empire of AI, New York City: Penguin Press, →ISBN:

     As people gushed over and grappled with the model’s capabilities, to a degree that exceeded many employees’ expectations, the web app [DALL·E 2] went viral across social media, producing a plethora of wild, wacky, and surreal AI-generated art in its wake.

   • 2026 January 9, James Kirchick, “Greenland Is Only the Beginning. Trump Has His Sights Set on Europe.”, in The New York Times‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Mr. Trump’s surreal endeavor to conquer Greenland is of a piece with his general hostility to Europe.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

   • 2026 April 26, Linda Feldmann, “After the gunfire: Moments of grace at White House correspondents’ dinner”, in The Christian Science Monitor, Boston, Massachusetts: Christian Science Publishing Society, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Other moments of grace played out during an otherwise surreal evening.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

Derived terms

• surrealia
• surrealish
• surrealism
• surrealist
• surrealistic
• surreality
• surrealize
• surreally
• surrealness
• surreal number
• surrealscape
• surrealty

Related terms

• real

Translations

fantastic and incongruous — see also surrealist

• Bulgarian: сюрреалистичен (bg) (sjurrealističen)
• Catalan: surrealista
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: (of mood) 玄妙 (zh) (xuánmiào), (of genre) 超現實的 / 超现实的 (zh) (chāoxiànshí de)

• Dutch: surreëel (nl), bovenwerkelijk
• Finnish: epätodellinen (fi)
• French: surréel (fr)
• Galician: surrealista
• German: surreal (de)
• Greek: σουρεαλιστικός (el) (sourealistikós), υπερρεαλιστικός (el) (yperrealistikós)
• Hebrew: הזוי
• Japanese: シュール (ja) (shūru), 超現実的 (ちょうげんじつてき, chōgenjitsuteki)
• Kazakh: сюрреалистік (syuwrrealıystik)
• Polish: surrealistyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: surreal
• Romanian: suprareal (ro)
• Russian: сюрреалисти́чный (ru) (sjurrealistíčnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: os-fhìreach
• Spanish: surreal
• Swedish: overklig (sv), drömsk (sv)
• Tagalog: kubtunay

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} surreella tal

Noun

surreal (plural surreals)

1. (mathematics) A surreal number.

Anagrams

• Rurales, serrula

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

surreal (strong nominative masculine singular surrealer, comparative surrealer, superlative am surrealsten)

1. surreal

Declension

Positive forms of surreal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist surreal sie ist surreal es ist surreal sie sind surreal strong declension (without article) nominative surrealer surreale surreales surreale genitive surrealen surrealer surrealen surrealer dative surrealem surrealer surrealem surrealen accusative surrealen surreale surreales surreale weak declension (with definite article) nominative der surreale die surreale das surreale die surrealen genitive des surrealen der surrealen des surrealen der surrealen dative dem surrealen der surrealen dem surrealen den surrealen accusative den surrealen die surreale das surreale die surrealen mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein surrealer eine surreale ein surreales (keine) surrealen genitive eines surrealen einer surrealen eines surrealen (keiner) surrealen dative einem surrealen einer surrealen einem surrealen (keinen) surrealen accusative einen surrealen eine surreale ein surreales (keine) surrealen Comparative forms of surreal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist surrealer sie ist surrealer es ist surrealer sie sind surrealer strong declension (without article) nominative surrealerer surrealere surrealeres surrealere genitive surrealeren surrealerer surrealeren surrealerer dative surrealerem surrealerer surrealerem surrealeren accusative surrealeren surrealere surrealeres surrealere weak declension (with definite article) nominative der surrealere die surrealere das surrealere die surrealeren genitive des surrealeren der surrealeren des surrealeren der surrealeren dative dem surrealeren der surrealeren dem surrealeren den surrealeren accusative den surrealeren die surrealere das surrealere die surrealeren mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein surrealerer eine surrealere ein surrealeres (keine) surrealeren genitive eines surrealeren einer surrealeren eines surrealeren (keiner) surrealeren dative einem surrealeren einer surrealeren einem surrealeren (keinen) surrealeren accusative einen surrealeren eine surrealere ein surrealeres (keine) surrealeren Superlative forms of surreal number & gender singular plural masculine feminine neuter predicative er ist am surrealsten sie ist am surrealsten es ist am surrealsten sie sind am surrealsten strong declension (without article) nominative surrealster surrealste surrealstes surrealste genitive surrealsten surrealster surrealsten surrealster dative surrealstem surrealster surrealstem surrealsten accusative surrealsten surrealste surrealstes surrealste weak declension (with definite article) nominative der surrealste die surrealste das surrealste die surrealsten genitive des surrealsten der surrealsten des surrealsten der surrealsten dative dem surrealsten der surrealsten dem surrealsten den surrealsten accusative den surrealsten die surrealste das surrealste die surrealsten mixed declension (with indefinite article) nominative ein surrealster eine surrealste ein surrealstes (keine) surrealsten genitive eines surrealsten einer surrealsten eines surrealsten (keiner) surrealsten dative einem surrealsten einer surrealsten einem surrealsten (keinen) surrealsten accusative einen surrealsten eine surrealste ein surrealstes (keine) surrealsten

Further reading

• “surreal” in Duden online
• “surreal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[4] (in German)

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /su.ʁeˈaw/ [su.heˈaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /su.ʁeˈaw/ [su.heˈaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /su.ʁeˈaw/ [su.χeˈaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /suˈʁjal/ [suˈʁjaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /suˈʁjal/ [suˈʁjaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /suˈʁja.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: sur‧re‧al

Adjective

surreal m or f (plural surreais)

1. surreal

Related terms

• surrealismo
• surrealista

Further reading

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

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sureˈal/ [su.reˈal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: su‧rre‧al

Adjective

surreal m or f (masculine and feminine plural surreales)

1. surreal

Further reading

• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “surreal”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA