drohen
German, verb/ˈdʁoːən/
drohen is spelled D-R-O-H-E-N (6 letters) and appears 11 times per million words in written German, the 6,412th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Drohen is a German verb meaning “to threaten” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemanden durch die Ankündigung von Gewalt oder Sanktionen einschüchtern oder zwingen, etwas zu tun”.
What does drohen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to threaten
Die Geschäftsleitung drohte der Belegschaft mit Lohnkürzung.
- 2
to loom, to be able to happen in the future [with dative ‘to someone’] (of negative events or consequences, often expressed in English as "there is a risk of...")
Nach den Überschwemmungen drohen wie immer Epidemien.
- 3
to be in danger of something, to be on the verge of something, to threaten
Das Gebäude ist baufällig und droht einzustürzen.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemanden durch die Ankündigung von Gewalt oder Sanktionen einschüchtern oder zwingen, etwas zu tun 2. jemandem als Übel bevorstehen 3. in Gefahr sein, etwas Unerwünschtes zu erleiden
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 drohen
- droht present singular third-person
- drohte past
- gedroht participle past
- haben auxiliary
- drohend participle present
- drohe first-person indicative present
- drohst indicative present second-person
- drohest second-person singular subjunctive
- drohet plural second-person subjunctive
- drohten first-person indicative plural
- drohtest indicative preterite second-person
- drohtet indicative plural preterite
- droh imperative second-person singular
- habe gedroht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gedroht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- droh! imperative singular
- drohe! imperative singular
- droht! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce drohen?
- /ˈdʁoːən/
- [ˈdʁoːən]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to drohen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is drohen in German?
drohen appears 11 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).