What does "bildungsroman" mean?

A novel tracing the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character, usually from childhood to maturity.

What is a synonym for "bildungsroman"?

Common synonyms include: dreadful, novel, roman, short story, vignette.

Pronounced //ˈbɪl.dʊŋzˌɹoʊ.mən//.

//ˈbɪl.dʊŋzˌɹoʊ.mən// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A novel tracing the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character, usually from childhood to maturity.
"English speakers are more hospitable to fiction in translation, and yet when was the last time you heard someone mention “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship” or “Elective Affinities,” Goethe’s long fictions? These books have a good claim to have founded two of the major genres of the modern novel—respectively, the Bildungsroman and the novel of adultery."
2
Alternative letter-case form of bildungsroman. alt-of

"Tom is reading a Bildungsroman."

Borrowed from German Bildungsroman, from Bildung (“education, formation”) + -s- + Roman (“novel”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.