zeitgeist
<p ><i><b>Zeitgeist</b></i> (<small>German pronunciation:</small> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA_for_German" title="Wikipedia:IPA for German" >[ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst]</a><small class="nowrap" > (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De-zeitgeist.ogg" title="File:De-zeitgeist.ogg" ><img src="/add0d141-4b79-51fd-b216-83fd45859bec.png"/></a> <a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/De-zeitgeist.ogg" class="internal" title="De-zeitgeist.ogg" >listen</a>)</small>) is "the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit" title="Spirit" >spirit</a> of the times" or "the spirit of the age." <sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference" ><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist#cite_note-0" >[1]</a></sup> <i>Zeitgeist</i> is the general <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural" title="Cultural" class="mw-redirect" >cultural</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual" title="Intellectual" >intellectual</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical" title="Ethical" class="mw-redirect" >ethical</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality" title="Spirituality" >spiritual</a>, or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political" title="Political" class="mw-redirect" >political</a> climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ambiance" class="extiw" title="wikt:ambiance" >ambiance</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral" title="Moral" >morals</a>, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Era" title="Era" >era</a>.
The term is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loanword" title="Loanword" >loanword</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_language" title="German language" >German</a> <i>Zeit</i> – "time" and <i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geist" title="Geist" >Geist</a></i> – "spirit" (cognate with English "ghost").</p>