bestrafen
German, verb
bestrafen is spelled B-E-S-T-R-A-F-E-N (9 letters) and appears 6.6 times per million words in written German, the 9,876th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bestrafen is a German verb meaning “to punish” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Bestrafen is a different word: “gerund of bestrafen; penalizing”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemandem aufgrund einer schlechten Handlung negative Konsequenzen zuführen”.
What does bestrafen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to punish
noun
- 1
neutergerund of bestrafen; penalizing
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemandem aufgrund einer schlechten Handlung negative Konsequenzen zuführen
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 bestrafen
- bestraft present singular third-person
- bestrafte past
- haben auxiliary
- bestrafend participle present
- bestrafe first-person indicative present
- bestrafst indicative present second-person
- bestrafest second-person singular subjunctive
- bestrafet plural second-person subjunctive
- bestraften first-person indicative plural
- bestraftest indicative preterite second-person
- bestraftet indicative plural preterite
- bestraf imperative second-person singular
- habe bestraft first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben bestraft first-person indicative multiword-construction
- bestrafe! imperative singular
- bestraf! imperative singular
- bestraft! imperative plural
- bestraft haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to bestrafen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bestrafen in German?
bestrafen appears 6.6 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).