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Phantombild

Learn a funny, quirky German word each week with DW's Word of the Week feature. This week: Phantombild.

https://p.dw.com/p/RlK6
Image: picture-alliance / KPA Honorar

Contrary to your likely first impression, a "Phantombild" (literally, ghost picture) is not what the Ghost Busters use to go on in their search for spooks and gouls. After all, the Stay-Puff Marshmellow Man is fairly unmistakable. Rather, it's the police who use "Phantombilder" when they're looking for very real, usually human criminals. The police employ specially trained artists to sketch a "Phantombild" of a suspect according to a witness' description. Of course, some pretty strange images probably end up on the sketch pad, but we'll assume the police pass those cases on to the specialists -- the Ghost Busters.

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