English question

[howsmyenglish]

There is a wonderful German word Oberbegriff that I seem to like a lot, but don't know how to say in any other language. "Ober" means "upper" and "Begriff" means "term", so "upper term" should explain it nicely. Unfortunately, none of the translations I find online seem correct. At least... I don't seem to be familiar enough with them to tell. But there has to be a word for that. It's such a common thing to want to say, isn't it?
In case "upper term" doesn't make it clear, let me give you some examples.

The Oberbegriff for "man, woman, child" is "human".
The Oberbegriff for "Poodle, German shepherd, Corgi" is "dog".
The Oberbegriff for "dogs, bears, people, flies" is "living being".

So... I'm looking for a term that combines several other terms under one umbrella.

Here are the words I find in dictionaries:

genus
superordinate
hypernym
generic term
generic name
umbrella term
broader term

Even though they make sense to me, I've not met any of them enough to be able to choose the correct one for me. To use in a dissertation with a philological subject. Would you choose one of those? Or something else?

Comments

[swordznsorcery]

Genus is a very specific scientific word, and can only be used in a very particular sense. It forms a part of a living being's binomial name in taxonomy. Eg: humans are Homo sapiens. Species: sapiens, genus: Homo.

I don't think English has a word for what you want. Often we use a sentence where other languages have one specific word (or we steal!) "Umbrella term" is in common use. Not always in the way you describe, but I think it would be understood.

[thanatos_kalos]

You could say a 'collective term' (though not 'collective noun,' as that's different). 'Umbrella term' or 'broader term' would work, as might 'overarching term,' to get the Ober in there. ;)

[yarrowkat]

i would use "umbrella term" to describe what you are saying in English. it's a categorization thing; i don't think we have a single word that does what that German word does. :)

[loganberrybunny]

"Hypernym" is the one I'd pick for specialist writing, but it's virtually never used in everyday English. "Umbrella term" seems a good choice for more colloquial writing or speech, and "blanket term" is also fairly common.

[grayswandir]

I agree with everyone recommending "umbrella term." "Hypernym" is technically correct, but I don't think I've ever seen it used outside of linguistics. It sounds very specialized.

On a side note, I really do wish English had a better word for this. :P