erwerben
German, verb
erwerben is spelled E-R-W-E-R-B-E-N (8 letters) and appears 12 times per million words in written German, the 5,929th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Erwerben is a German verb meaning “to earn, gain, acquire” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Erwerben is a different word: “dative plural of Erwerb”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas durch eigene Arbeit verdienen”.
What does erwerben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to earn, gain, acquire
Er hat zwei Doktortitel erworben.
- 2
to acquire, to succeed to (irrespectively of the legal cause)
Als Alleinerbe meines Vaters habe ich Eigentum an diesem Grundstück erworben.
- 3
to purchase, acquire (grandiose trope for an act of buying but never in legal language)
In Mailand konnte ich diese wunderschöne Stola erwerben.
- 4
to gradually develop, acquire, learn (as opposed to being born with)
Ein erworbenes und nicht angeborenes Verhalten.
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Erwerb
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas durch eigene Arbeit verdienen 2. etwas gegen Bezahlung in Besitz nehmen; etwas kaufen 3. sich Wissen oder Fähigkeiten durch Lernen aneignen 4. sich ein bestimmtes Ansehen oder Vertrauen aneignen
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 erwerben
- erwirbt present singular third-person
- erwarb past
- erworben participle past
- erwürbe past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 3 strong
- erwerbend participle present
- erwerbe first-person indicative present
- erwirbst indicative present second-person
- erwerbt indicative plural present
- erwerbest second-person singular subjunctive
- erwerbet plural second-person subjunctive
- erwarben first-person indicative plural
- erwürben first-person formal plural
- erwarbst indicative preterite second-person
- erwarbt indicative plural preterite
- erwürbest formal rare second-person
- erwürbst formal rare second-person
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to erwerben
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is erwerben in German?
erwerben appears 12 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).