high gloss
Loading your saved state.
high gloss
A very smooth, highly shiny and reflective surface, often used for furniture, photos, or paint finishes.
Die neuen Küchenschränke haben eine weiße Oberfläche in Hochglanz.
The new kitchen cabinets have a white surface in high gloss.
The word is made up of 'hoch' (high) and 'Glanz' (shine/gloss). So it literally describes a very high, intense degree of shine.
Die Oberfläche wurde auf Hochglanz poliert.
The surface was polished to a high gloss.
'Hochglanz' (high gloss) is often used as a defining element in compound nouns or combined with the preposition 'in' to describe a quality.
Wir haben uns eine Hochglanz-Küche gekauft.
We bought ourselves a high-gloss kitchen.
A fixed expression is 'etwas auf Hochglanz bringen' (to bring something to a high gloss) or 'etwas auf Hochglanz polieren' (to polish something to a high gloss). It means to clean something so that it shines strongly.
Vor dem Verkauf hat er sein altes Auto nochmal auf Hochglanz poliert.
Before selling it, he polished his old car to a high gloss once more.
The figurative meaning can be recognized from the context. It usually refers to the world of media, fashion, and celebrities and is often combined with words like 'Welt' (world), 'Magazin' (magazine), or 'Glamour' (glamour).
In den Hochglanz-Magazinen sieht immer alles perfekt aus.
In glossy magazines, everything always looks perfect.
weak / matte
'matt' and 'der Hochglanz' form a contrast when talking about surfaces. 'matt' describes something that does not shine and does not reflect. 'Hochglanz' is a very smooth, highly shiny surface that often even reflects like a mirror. The difference is important, for example, with furniture, paint finishes, photos, or kitchen fronts. Grammatically, the words are different: 'matt' is an adjective, while 'Hochglanz' is a noun. So you say 'eine matte Oberfläche' (a matte surface), but 'eine Oberfläche in Hochglanz' or 'mit Hochglanz' (a surface in high gloss / with high gloss).
Die Küchenfronten in Hochglanz sehen elegant aus, müssen aber oft geputzt werden.
The high-gloss kitchen fronts look elegant, but they have to be cleaned often.
Greta wählt matte Fliesen, weil man darauf nicht jeden Fingerabdruck sieht.
Greta chooses matte tiles because you do not see every fingerprint on them.