“Hamster buying” means hoarding or panic buying.

You know. Like in oh my God we’re all gonna die?

Germans taking part in coronavirus panic-hoarding are doing a “Hamsterkauf” – There are even empty supermarket shelves in Germany amid the coronavirus outbreak, and of course there’s a German word to describe the act of panic hoarding.

The word Hamsterkauf, a noun made up of [the German words for] “hoarding” (hamstern) and “buy” (kaufen) has been trending on social media as people share photos of store shelves cleared out of food and other household items. The word “hamstern” comes from the hamster, which stores food in its cheeks.