Entries for a competition to unearth the most stunning example - organised by the German language council - have been flooding in.

More than 20,000 words, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, have been sent in by email and letter.

German, for example, has a word to describe that niggling melody you just cannot get out of your head - "Ohrwurm", literally "earworm".

"Eisenbahnknoten" is a "knot of rail-lines" or, in other words, a railway junction.

Dictionary dilemma

And "Kulturbeutel" - literally culture bag - is the toilet bag used to take toothbrush and shampoo.

Germany's most beautiful word? Lebenslust - zest for life Erdbeermund - voluptuous lips Teufelsbraten - rascal Wolkenkuckucksheim - cloud cuckoo land Glueck - happiness Liebe - love Mitgefuehl - compassion Pusteblume - dandelion Sehnsucht - longing Vergissmeinnicht - forget-me-not Source: Deutscher Sprachrat

The Deutscher Sprachrat institution is offering a two-week holiday in Mauritius as first prize.

The entries are being judged by a panel that includes authors, musicians and film-makers, and Volker Finke - described as Germany's most eloquent football manager.

The competition comes at an interesting time for German scholars, with renewed controversy about changes to spelling rules introduced a few years ago, says the BBC's Ray Furlong.

These are widely detested and ignored by the leading newspapers.

So will it be a simple word like "Liebe" - love, or the more involved "Geheimratsecken," which means receding hairline?