anhauen
German, verb/ˈanˌhaʊ̯ən/
anhauen is spelled A-N-H-A-U-E-N (7 letters) and appears about once in every 8 million words in written German, the 148,565th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Anhauen is a German verb meaning “to hit” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “mit einem Werkzeug (Axt, Beil) beginnen, gegen etwas zu schlagen”.
What does anhauen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to hit
- 2
informalto accost (to approach someone with a demand or request)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. mit einem Werkzeug (Axt, Beil) beginnen, gegen etwas zu schlagen 2. jemanden (unfreundlich, plump) ansprechen, um von ihm etwas unentgeltlich zu erhalten 3. mit einem Körperteil irgendwo anstoßen und sich dabei verletzen
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 anhauen
- haut an present singular third-person
- haute an past
- angehaut participle past
- haben auxiliary
- anhauend participle present
- anzuhauen infinitive infinitive-zu
- haue an first-person indicative present
- hauen an first-person indicative plural
- haust an indicative present second-person
- hauest an second-person singular subjunctive
- hauet an plural second-person subjunctive
- hauten an first-person indicative plural
- hautest an indicative preterite second-person
- hautet an indicative plural preterite
- hieb an past
- hiebe an subjunctive-ii
- hau an! imperative singular
- haue an! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce anhauen?
- /ˈanˌhaʊ̯ən/
- [ˈanˌhaʊ̯ən]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is anhauen in German?
anhauen appears about once in every 8 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).