Rule for feminine · die

Nouns ending in -ik

-ik → die · 0.5% (exception: der Streik)

The rule, in plain language

Nouns ending in -ik, especially in science, art, or politics, are feminine and take die: die Politik (politics), die Kritik (criticism), die Musik (music). It's a thin rule - only 13 words, 0.5% of frequent nouns - but fairly consistent. The one exception to remember is der Streik (strike): it ends the same way but is masculine, likely because it follows a different word-formation pattern than the learned -ik suffix. With just one known exception, the rule stays reliable for the rest of this group.

Representative examples

• die Politik · politics
• die Kritik · criticism
• die Musik · music

The exceptions

All course words that follow this rule

• die Politik
• die Kritik
• die Musik
• die Technik
• die Klinik
• die Republik
• die Statistik
• die Bundesrepublik
• die Dynamik
• die Panik
• die Fabrik
• die Mathematik