erstaunen
German, verb
erstaunen is spelled E-R-S-T-A-U-N-E-N (9 letters) and appears 2.4 times per million words in written German, the 21,211th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Erstaunen is a German verb meaning “to astonish, astound” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Erstaunen is a different word: “astonishment”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “ins Staunen kommen”.
What does erstaunen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to astonish, astound
noun
- 1
neutergerund of erstaunen
- 2
neuterastonishment
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. ins Staunen kommen 2. jemanden zum Staunen bringen
noun: 1. Verfassung einer Person, über etwas staunen zu müssen
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 erstaunen
- erstaunt present singular third-person
- erstaunte past
- haben auxiliary
- erstaunend participle present
- erstaune first-person indicative present
- erstaunst indicative present second-person
- erstaunest second-person singular subjunctive
- erstaunet plural second-person subjunctive
- erstaunten first-person indicative plural
- erstauntest indicative preterite second-person
- erstauntet indicative plural preterite
- erstaun imperative second-person singular
- habe erstaunt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben erstaunt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- erstaun! imperative singular
- erstaune! imperative singular
- erstaunt! imperative plural
- sein auxiliary perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to erstaunen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is erstaunen in German?
erstaunen appears 2.4 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).