Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a derog. name for a Dutch person.

1781

Hicky’s Bengal Gaz. 14-21 Apr. n.p.: Mynheer — Sour Krout and Madame Brisket Baron.

2. (also craut, krout) cabbage.

1832		Satirist (London) 27 May 170/3: [the use plays on the German royal family] But let’s proclaim a fast, to shame / Each Whiggish infidel: / Of ‘krout’ a - dish, and salted fish, / May save us—who can tell?
1851		Manchester Spy (NH) 25 Oct. n.p.: Around the huge and greasy pot, / The steam came pouring out; / And from the smell, I knew that she / Was cooking ‘spack’ [i.e. speck, salted, smoked and air-dried pork leg] and crout.
1997		D.H. Edwards The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing 39: I lost so much weight working hard on that farm [...] I was raggedy as a can of kraut.

3. (orig. US) a derog. name for a German or Austrian.

1833		Satirist (London) 3 Feb. 461/3: ‘The Germanic Diet! [i.e. parliament] [...] I hear a great deal about the Germanic Diet,’ said Sir Charles to Sir Clod, ‘What is it?’ ‘Sour krout, chiefly,’ replied the witty cavalier.
1837		T. Power St Patrick’s Eve Dramatis personae: Sergeant Kraut (of the Guards).
1844		Ohio Democrat (Canal Dover, OH) 14 Nov. 3/3: Here’s Steam and Krout, and Ike and [etc.].
1853		N.Y. Clipper 30 July 2/4: Sour Krout.—Talk as we may abou the Dutch, they are the most persevering people among us.
1855		Enniskillen Chron. 4 Jan. 4/1: Hi! Sprechan Sie Deutsch? Here! you, Student von Krout.
1864		C.W. Wills Army Life of an Illinois Soldier (1996) 309: Some puppy finally cried out ‘kraut,’ and another echoed it with ‘kraut by the barrel.’ [General Osterhaus] wheeled his horse [...] his face white with passion. ‘Vat regiment ish dis?’ [...] Yelping ‘sauer kraut’ at a German is a poor way to gain his favor.
1866		Bury & Norwich Post 15 May 2/6: At Europa Academy the greatest bully was Kraut. Kraut and Wurst were cousins, two of the biggest fellows in the school.
[1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 120: Silence, you Dutch hog! [...] Fool! sourkrout-eater! swiller of beer!].
1912		Exeter & Plymouth Gaz. 26 Mar. 9/6: The new films will include ‘Scenes in the Land of Krout’.
1918		G.E. Griffin ‘He Was Generally Irish’ Ballads of the Regiment 34: But he always loved a soldier, be he ‘Chummy,’ ‘Krout’ or ‘Mick’.
1929		(con. 1918) W.T. Scanlon God have Mercy on Us! (1930) 321: Four Krauts came in over the rear wall.
1934		L. Hughes ‘Gangster in Khaki’ in Battle Stories 🌐 If only I had a gat in my mitt I’d take them krauts.
1944		H. Brown Walk in Sun 69: This young guy says he knocked off a Kraut.
1954		R. Service ‘The Macaronis’ in Carols of an Old Codger 42: I know beyond a doubt, / A hundred times I’d rather be / A Dago than a Kraut.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 53: Comics have these krauts with monocles who shout ‘Britisher schweinhund’.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 84: The Kraut spotted Dannie Theos the other day in a big maroon Bird.
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 729: Take that, ya fuckin kraut.
1983		J. Byrell (con. 1959) Up the Cross 100: A German they used to refer to as ‘Klaus the Kraut’ was once in business [...] up The Cross.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 84: A $48,000 Mercedes. Come on, you Krauts.
2000		T. Udo Vatican Bloodbath 19: A sour-faced kraut dressed in black.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘Allen was going with them, to make sure they didn’t go anywhere near where we’d finished the Krauts’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 603: [B]right young xenophobes alert to her accent, cut her or mocked her or deprecated her: Hun, Bosch, Kraut, Gerry.

4. the German language.

1945		American Mercury 60-61 156: Sentries just shrugged and usually asked, ‘Kin yuh talk kraut?’.
1948		(con. 1944) A. Lyon Toward an Unknown Station 222: She talks Kraut when she talks to the men.
1955		K. Vonnegut ‘Der Arme Dolmetscher’ in Bagombo Snuff Box (1999) 184: You talk Kraut good enough foah us.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 46: You speak kraut?
1971		T. Thackrey Thief 373: That much Kraut, anyhow, I can understand.
1981		J. Herndon Sorrowless Times 23: Those sailors would be speaking Kraut, One-eye, Sprechen Dutch, they’d be saying.
1996		M.C. White A Brother’s Blood 81: You don’t even know how to speak kraut.
2004		(con. WWII) A.D. Kahn Witness to the Turnabout 6: ‘Can you speak kraut?’ a GI guard asked. [Ibid.] 200: And wasn’t it a joke — typical Army snafu — that most MG officers couldn’t even talk ‘kraut.’.