frau
German, pronoun
frau is spelled F-R-A-U (4 letters) and appears 457 times per million words in written German, the 206th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Frau is a German pronoun meaning “one, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Frau is a different word: “woman (adult female human)”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “irgendeine, eine Frau: vergleiche man”.
What does frau mean in English?
pronoun
- 1
informalrareslangone, they (indefinite third-person singular pronoun)
noun
- 1
femininewoman (adult female human)
- 2
femininewife (married woman, especially in relation to her spouse)
- 3
femininea title of courtesy, equivalent to Mrs/Ms, which has nearly replaced Fräulein in the function of Miss
- 4
femininemadam (polite form of address for a woman or lady)
- 5
femininelady; noblewoman (woman of breeding or higher class)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. erwachsener, weiblicher Mensch 2. verheiratete Frau, Ehefrau 3. Höflichkeitsanrede für eine einzelne weibliche erwachsene Person, Namenszusatz
pronoun: 1. irgendeine, eine Frau: vergleiche man
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 frau
- Frauen plural
- Fräulein diminutive neuter
- Frauchen diminutive neuter
- Frauerl diminutive neuter
- Fr. alternative abbreviation
- Fraue alternative archaic
- Frauw alternative obsolete
- Fraw alternative obsolete
- Frawe alternative obsolete
- fraw obsolete
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to frau
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is frau in German?
frau appears 457 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).