Zeitgeist (pronounced ) is originally a German expression that means "the spirit of the age", literally translated as "time (Zeit) spirit (Geist)". It describes the intellectual and cultural climate of an era. In German, the word has more layers of meaning than the English translation, including the fact that Zeitgeist can only be observed for past events.Zeitgeist has achieved a unique status among German loanwords in other tongues, having found an entrance into English, Spanish and Japanese.