ätzen
German, verb
ätzen is spelled Ä-T-Z-E-N (5 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written German, the 94,067th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ätzen is a German verb meaning “to etch (with acid, typically deliberately as part of treating or processing)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Ätzen is a different word: “etching (process)”. On this page, Atzen is a different word: “plural of Atze”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas zersetzend angreifen”.
What does ätzen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to etch (with acid, typically deliberately as part of treating or processing)
- 2
to cauterize
- 3
to rant, to disparage
noun
- 1
neutergerund of ätzen
- 2
neuteretching (process)
- 3
neutercauterization
noun
- 1
plural of Atze
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. füttern
verb: 1. etwas zersetzend angreifen 2. mit Hilfe ätzender Stoffe bearbeiten 3. jemanden stark reizen
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 ätzen
- Ätzens genitive
- ätzt present singular third-person
- ätzte past
- geätzt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- ätzend participle present
- ätze first-person indicative present
- ätzest second-person singular subjunctive
- ätzet plural second-person subjunctive
- ätzten first-person indicative plural
- ätztest indicative preterite second-person
- ätztet indicative plural preterite
- ätz imperative second-person singular
- atze present
- atzt present
- atzte past
- atz! imperative singular
- atze! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to ätzen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is ätzen in German?
ätzen appears about once in every 4 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).