Got to hand it to the Germans - they come up with some really fun words. From the English edition of Deutsche Welle:
Coronavirus scare: When will 'hamsterkauf' become an English word?
Supermarkets in Germany have witnessed signs of panic buying as the new coronavirus spreads. Some English-language media are in love with the special word the Germans use for hoarding stuff, as Hardy Graupner found out.
The coronavirus scare has seen quite a number of Germans resorting to panic buying, although the chances of them really needing a lot of stuff at home over a longer period are rather slim. But that's a different story.
The point is that the Germans have a rather nice and descriptive word for hoarding stuff. They call the activity of panic buying hamsterkauf, with the corresponding verb being hamstern.
It's not too hard for people from the English-speaking world to guess its meaning. After all, they share the same word for the rodent that's used as a descriptive term in German to indicate that if you do a hamsterkauf, you want a lot of stuff — just as hamsters are eager to store as much food as they can in their cheeks. You never know, it could come in handy.
Cute and a word that is immediately understandable.
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