bescheiden
German, verb
bescheiden is spelled B-E-S-C-H-E-I-D-E-N (10 letters) and appears 6.8 times per million words in written German, the 9,700th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bescheiden is a German verb meaning “to confer the decision or fate formally, to announce, to proclaim” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a euphemistic form of beschissen (“shitty”). With a capital, Bescheiden is a different word: “dative plural of Bescheid”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “anweisen, sich zu jemandem oder an eine bestimmte Stelle zu begeben”.
What does bescheiden mean in English?
adjective
- 1
modest, humble (of a person)
bescheidener Anfang
- 2
limited, disappointing, little (of qualities, especially success/growth)
- 3
colloquialeuphemistic form of beschissen (“shitty”)
verb
- 1
to confer the decision or fate formally, to announce, to proclaim
- 2
to accept so as to become content with
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Bescheid
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. zurückhaltend; seine Erfolge oder sein Können in Erzählungen schmälernd oder nicht erwähnend 2. einfach, schlicht und ohne großen Luxus 3. anstelle von scheiße oder beschissen benutzt, als weniger vulgäre Variante zu verstehen, weil sonst eine Strafe oder Verwarnung drohen kann
verb: 1. anweisen, sich zu jemandem oder an eine bestimmte Stelle zu begeben 2. jemandem zukommen lassen 3. mit wenig zufrieden sein 4. auf offiziellem Weg zur Kenntnis bringen
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 bescheiden
- bescheidener masculine nominative singular
- am bescheidensten superlative
- bescheidene feminine nominative singular
- bescheidenes neuter nominative singular
- bescheidenen genitive masculine singular
- bescheidenem dative masculine singular
- der bescheidene definite includes-article masculine
- die bescheidene definite feminine includes-article
- das bescheidene definite includes-article neuter
- die bescheidenen definite includes-article nominative
- des bescheidenen definite genitive includes-article
- der bescheidenen definite feminine genitive
- dem bescheidenen dative definite includes-article
- bescheide present
- bescheidest present
- bescheidet present
- beschied past
- beschiede subjunctive-ii
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to bescheiden
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bescheiden in German?
bescheiden appears 6.8 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).