erben
German, verb
erben is a German verb meaning “to inherit (as a bequest or by genetics)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Erben is a different word: “accusative/dative/genitive singular”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “nach dem Tod eines anderen dessen Vermögen zu Eigentum erhalten”.
What does erben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to inherit (as a bequest or by genetics)
noun
- 1
accusative/dative/genitive singular
- 2
all-case plural
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. nach dem Tod eines anderen dessen Vermögen zu Eigentum erhalten 2. etwas (Gebrauchtes) von jemandem geschenkt bekommen 3. eine Veranlagung, Begabung oder Ähnliches von den Vorfahren mitbekommen
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of erben
- erbt present singular third-person
- erbte past
- geerbt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- erbend participle present
- erbe first-person indicative present
- erbst indicative present second-person
- erbest second-person singular subjunctive
- erbet plural second-person subjunctive
- erbten first-person indicative plural
- erbtest indicative preterite second-person
- erbtet indicative plural preterite
- erb imperative second-person singular
- habe geerbt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben geerbt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- erbe! imperative singular
- erbt! imperative plural
- geerbt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to erben
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is erben in German?
erben appears 12 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).