übel
German, adjective
übel is a German adjective meaning “bad, evil, terrible (not good, in quality or morality)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Übel is a different word: “a problem, an unfavorable result, something causing suffering or…”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “schlecht, krank, unwohl (seiend)”.
What does übel mean in English?
adjective
- 1
bad, evil, terrible (not good, in quality or morality)
ein übles Foul
- 2
unwell, sick, queasy, nauseous
Mir ist übel.
noun
- 1
neutera problem, an unfavorable result, something causing suffering or unpleasantness, an evil
- 2
neuterbad (an economic good with a negative price)
- 3
archaicneuterillness; suffering
symbol
- 1
Austriathe letter Ü in the German spelling alphabet
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. schlecht, krank, unwohl (seiend) 2. schlecht, verdorben, faulig, unangenehm 3. unmoralisch, schlecht, verwerflich, verdorben 4. unangenehm, unerfreulich
noun: 1. unerfreulicher Zustand oder schlimme Situation 2. Leiden, das zum Beispiel auf eine Krankheit zurückgeht
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 übel
- übler masculine nominative singular
- übeler archaic masculine nominative
- am übelsten superlative
- üble feminine nominative singular
- übele archaic feminine nominative
- übles neuter nominative singular
- übeles archaic neuter nominative
- üblen genitive masculine singular
- übelen archaic genitive masculine
- üblem dative masculine singular
- übelem archaic dative masculine
- Übels genitive singular
- Übeln dative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to übel
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is übel in German?
übel appears 26 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).