Über
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The word über comes from the German language. It is a cognate of both Latin super and Greek ύπερ (hyper), as well as English over (as in "overkill"). During the late 1990s, über also became a synonym for super; i.e. übercool - supercool - generally with a slightly intensified meaning. Über is commonly written as uber in English, though with slightly different meaning.
The normal transliteration for the 'ü'-Umlaut when changing from German would be ue, not just 'u', however it could be argued that the American English use of the word uber is a new word distinct from ueber. This is because English is defined by common use of words, which dictionaries and academia record, not the reverse. The use of 'ü', 'u', and 'ue' in the word is an emerging trend in common usage with no clear consensus.
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Uses in German
In German, über is used as a prefix as well as a separate word. In the latter case, it may be a preposition or an adverb depending on context. Eg. sprechen über - speak about, über die Brücke - over the bridge, übernehmen - take over (nehmen = take).
Über also translates to over, above and superior. The actual translation depends on context. One example would be the term Übermensch from Friedrich Nietzsche, which translates to superior human or superman (literally "overhuman"). It is assumed that it is via this translation that the word über entered the English vocabulary (cf. calque).
Non-German uses
Fan fiction
In the Xena: Warrior Princess fan fiction community, "Uberfic" was coined to describe alternative universe fics that use the same basic character archetypes from the show and transplant them to another setting. Popular examples are the characters Dar and Kerry, first seen in the book Tropical Storm. The term has also started to see use in other fandoms.
Gaming
"00ber", a leet spelling of "über", is often used by ubernerds to discuss the Pokémon RPGs to describe certain Pokémon that have an unfair advantage over competitors large enough to unbalance the game and are therefore banned from normal competitive play. These include both legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Lugia, Ho-oh, Kyogre, Groudon, Latios, Latias, Deoxys, Deoxys-L, Deoxys-F, Deoxys-E, Mew, etc. as well as non-legendary Pokémon like Blissey, Wobbuffet, Wynaut, etc. Attaching the "00ber" classifier to non-legendary Pokémon is slightly controversial, since regular Pokémon like Blissey, while powerful in circumstances, still have obvious weaknesses, whereas the legendaries do not (compared to non-legendary Pokémon). "00ber" is seeing declining usage, being replaced by the more standard "uber".
"Uber" (also "über") is an online gaming term for a player or object that is considered superior. For example, a player who has accumulated the most points or rare and advanced weapons, tools, clothing, or spells available in the online game could be referred to as uber. Rare or powerful items themselves are also frequently called uber. Something does not even have to be a tangible object to be considered uber; for example, a player could use an "uber strategy" or "uber hacks." The word was used heavily in EverQuest, a MMORPG.
The first person shooter ÜberSoldier (2006) is the first major game title to use the word uber in its title. Some news sites use the Umlaut and some do not. However, it is not the only English language computer game to import German words (see also Soldat (2002/2005)).
Slang
"Uber" may easily replace "super" to emphasize almost any adjective, e.g. "ubercool" rather than "supercool". This usage, as a general intensifier like "very", is the only English usage not faithful to the original German.nl:Über