Kurzgesagt Meaning: What ‘In a Nutshell’ Means & Who Made It

**”Kurzgesagt” is German for “in short” or “in a nutshell” (literally “shortly said”). It’s the name of a Munich animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer, best known for its YouTube channel Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, which explains science, space, biology and philosophy in short, flat-style animated videos.**

So the channel’s full name says the same thing twice: once in German, once in English. Below we cover the meaning and pronunciation, the studio’s story, what makes its videos work, and what businesses can borrow from its style for their own explainer videos.

What does Kurzgesagt mean?

Kurzgesagt combines two German words: kurz (“short”) and gesagt (“said”). Literally it means “shortly said”, and in everyday German it’s used like “in short” or “to put it briefly”.

That’s why the English channel is called Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell: “in a nutshell” is the natural English equivalent. The studio’s own shop FAQ puts it the same way: “kurzgesagt” is German for “in a nutshell”. The name is also a promise about the content: big, complicated topics, explained briefly.

How “kurz gesagt” is used in German

In everyday German it’s often written as two words, kurz gesagt, and it usually comes after a longer explanation, to sum it up. Dictionaries translate it as “in brief” or “in a few words”, and close synonyms are kurzum and um es kurz zu sagen (“to put it briefly”). For example:

• Kurz gesagt: Es hat funktioniert. (“In short: it worked.”)
• Das ist, kurz gesagt, das ganze Problem. (“That, in a nutshell, is the whole problem.”)

How do you pronounce Kurzgesagt?

In German it’s pronounced roughly KOORTS-guh-zahkt, with the stress on the first syllable. The “z” sounds like “ts”, and the final “gt” is closer to a “kt” sound. The studio itself gives the official pronunciation as [ˈkʊʁtsɡəˌzaːkt], which it says sounds something like “kurts-geh-zaahgt”.

Who is behind Kurzgesagt?

Kurzgesagt is a German animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. It’s headquartered in Munich.

Fact	Detail
Founded	YouTube channel created 10 July 2013
Founder	Philipp Dettmer
Headquarters	Munich, Germany
Narrator	Steve Taylor, the channel’s English voice since its first video
First video	Explained evolution, published in July 2013
Team	Grew from a side project into a studio of about seventy people
Audience	More than 25 million subscribers on the English channel (as of June 2026)

A short history of Kurzgesagt

The channel was created in July 2013, shortly after Dettmer graduated from Munich University of Applied Sciences. Its first video, on evolution, was voiced by Steve Taylor, who still narrates the English channel.

1. 2015: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commissioned a video on the end of disease.
2. 2019: Kurzgesagt became the first German channel to pass 10 million YouTube subscribers.
3. 2020: Its video The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do became the channel’s most-viewed video.
4. 2021: Dettmer published the studio’s first book, Immune: A Journey Into The Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive.
5. 2024: The studio announced Star Birds, a video game made with Toukana Interactive, the creators of Dorfromantik.
6. 2025: Star Birds launched in early access on 10 September 2025.
7. 2026: In February, Kurzgesagt launched a second channel, Nightshift – Kurzgesagt After Dark, focused on the weird and unsettling side of history.

Kurzgesagt in other languages

The English channel is the original, but many videos are also available on language-specific channels. Each one keeps “Kurzgesagt” in its name and adds a local version of the same idea:

Language	Channel name	Roughly means
German	Dinge Erklärt – Kurzgesagt	“Things explained”
Spanish	En Pocas Palabras – Kurzgesagt	“In a few words”
French	Tout Simplement – Kurzgesagt	“Quite simply”
Brazilian Portuguese	Em Poucas Palavras – Kurzgesagt	“In a few words”
Hindi	आसान शब्दों में – Kurzgesagt	“In simple words”
Arabic	بكل بساطة – Kurzgesagt	“Simply”
Japanese	世界をわかりやすく – Kurzgesagt	“Making the world easy to understand”
Korean	한눈에 보는 세상 – Kurzgesagt	“The world at a glance”

The German and Spanish channels carry many videos; the others have a selection.

What makes Kurzgesagt videos work

• One big question per video. Each film is built around a single question the viewer already wonders about.
• A recognisable flat style. Minimal, colourful, flat graphics, with some 3D, make complex ideas easy to follow.
• A consistent voice. The same narrator for over a decade makes the channel feel familiar.
• Optimistic, curious tone. Even heavy topics are framed with curiosity rather than fear.
• Visible sourcing. The studio says its sources are always given and research is done in-house.

How Kurzgesagt is funded

In a January 2023 statement, Kurzgesagt said 65% of its income from 2020 to 2022 came from viewers, through its merchandise shop, Patreon crowdfunding and YouTube ad revenue. Sponsorships and grants made up 24%. Its grants have included a 2015 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a 2022 Open Philanthropy grant, which the channel said would fund translations and content for TikTok.

Can you trust Kurzgesagt videos?

Kurzgesagt has addressed this directly. In 2019 it published a video saying it now has its arguments fact-checked by experts, admitting it hadn’t always done so, and removing two 2015 videos that didn’t meet its standards.

In 2024 it re-released an exercise video in an updated version after consulting more experts. Treat it like any good popular-science source: a strong introduction, with sources you can follow up.

What business explainer videos can borrow from Kurzgesagt

You don’t need a science channel to use the same principles. In a business explainer video, they translate like this:

Kurzgesagt habit	In a business explainer
One big question	Answer the one question your buyer is asking
Short, plain script	Cut jargon; explain the problem before the product
Consistent visual world	Build a style that fits your brand and reuse it across videos
Familiar voice	Cast a voiceover that suits your audience
Visual metaphors	Show abstract ideas, like data or software, as simple objects

The difference is length and goal. Kurzgesagt videos often run for many minutes because viewers choose to watch. A business explainer usually has to make its point much faster; see how long an explainer video should be.

Here’s an example of a flat 2D educational explainer from our own work: a film for Fragile X that explains a complex genetic condition in plain language.

How to get a Kurzgesagt-style explainer for your business

Start with the script: one question, one clear answer, in plain language. Then choose a flat 2D or mixed 2D/3D style that fits your brand. See our guide to writing a video script and how our explainer video production works.

We won’t copy another studio’s look, but we can create a clean, colourful style of your own that explains complex products just as clearly.

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