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ablaufen

German, verb

ablaufen is spelled A-B-L-A-U-F-E-N (8 letters) and appears 4.5 times per million words in written German, the 13,339th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ablaufen is a German verb meaning “to expire; to go out of date” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Abläufen is a different word: “dative plural of Ablauf”. With a capital, Ablaufen is a different word: “gerund of ablaufen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “zu laufen beginnen”.

What does ablaufen mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to expire; to go out of date

  2. 2

    to run off; to drain

  3. 3

    run down

  4. 4

    run out

  5. 5

    to wear down (soles, heals etc.)

  6. 6

    to go

  7. 7

    to set off, to start (running)

  8. 8

    to walk (all the way); to scour; to cover (a stretch of road etc. on the look out for something)

noun

as Abläufen
  1. 1

    masculinedative plural of Ablauf

noun

as Ablaufen
  1. 1

    neutergerund of ablaufen

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. zu laufen beginnen 2. von/aus etwas abfließen, abzweigen 3. (eine Strecke) zu Fuß bewältigen 4. (Schuhwerk) durch Benutzung verschleißen

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 ablaufen

  • läuft ab present singular third-person
  • lief ab past
  • abgelaufen participle past
  • sein auxiliary
  • haben auxiliary
  • 7 strong
  • ablaufend participle present
  • abzulaufen infinitive infinitive-zu
  • laufe ab first-person indicative present
  • laufen ab first-person indicative plural
  • läufst ab indicative present second-person
  • lauft ab indicative plural present
  • laufest ab second-person singular subjunctive
  • laufet ab plural second-person subjunctive
  • liefen ab first-person indicative plural
  • liefe ab first-person singular subjunctive
  • liefst ab indicative preterite second-person
  • lieft ab indicative plural preterite

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to ablaufen

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is ablaufen in German?

ablaufen appears 4.5 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).

What to look up after ablaufen