böse
German, adjective
böse is spelled B-Ö-S-E (4 letters) and appears 55 times per million words in written German, the 1,550th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Böse is a German adjective meaning “evil; malicious; wicked” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Böse is a different word: “evil, malice, wickedness”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “moralisch falsch, nicht gut; bösartig”.
What does böse mean in English?
adjective
- 1
evil; malicious; wicked
Unsere Taten können schlimme Folgen haben, selbst wenn wir keine bösen Absichten hatten.
- 2
bad; naughty
Böse Kinder kriegen nichts vom Sankt Nikolaus.
- 3
mean, dark (of jokes, satire, tricks, etc.)
Der Witz war böse.
- 4
angry
Bist du böse auf mich?
adverb
- 1
nastily, evilly
noun
- 1
neuterevil, malice, wickedness
- 2
neuteranger
noun
- 1
masculinethe Evil One
- 2
masculinebad guy, baddie
- 3
masculinebad boy
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. moralisch falsch, nicht gut; bösartig 2. von negativen Gefühlen, Gedanken erfüllt; verärgert, wütend 3. schädlich oder gefährlich 4. unartig
noun: 1. weibliche Person, die böse ist
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 böse
- böser masculine nominative singular
- am bösesten superlative
- böses neuter nominative singular
- bösen genitive masculine singular
- bösem dative masculine singular
- der böse definite includes-article masculine
- die böse definite feminine includes-article
- das böse definite includes-article neuter
- die bösen definite includes-article nominative
- des bösen definite genitive includes-article
- der bösen definite feminine genitive
- dem bösen dative definite includes-article
- den bösen dative definite includes-article
- bös abbreviation
- Böser masculine
- Bösen dative plural
- die Böse nominative singular
- die Bösen nominative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to böse
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is böse in German?
böse appears 55 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).