färben
German, verb
färben is spelled F-Ä-R-B-E-N (6 letters) and appears 37 times per million words in written German, the 2,246th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Färben is a German verb meaning “to color” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Farben is a different word: “plural of Farbe”. With a capital, Färben is a different word: “gerund of färben; dyeing”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “mit Farbstoff die Farbe ändern”.
What does färben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to color
- 2
to dye
suffix
- 1
-coloured
noun
- 1
plural of Farbe
noun
- 1
neutergerund of färben; dyeing
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. mit Farbstoff die Farbe ändern
suffix: 1. die dem vorangehenden Wortteil entsprechende Farbe aufweisend
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 färben
- färbt present singular third-person
- färbte past
- gefärbt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- färbend participle present
- färbe first-person indicative present
- färbst indicative present second-person
- färbest second-person singular subjunctive
- färbet plural second-person subjunctive
- färbten first-person indicative plural
- färbtest indicative preterite second-person
- färbtet indicative plural preterite
- färb imperative second-person singular
- habe gefärbt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gefärbt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- färbe! imperative singular
- färbt! imperative plural
- gefärbt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to färben
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is färben in German?
färben appears 37 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).