gediegen
German, adjective/ɡəˈdiːɡŋ̍/
gediegen is spelled G-E-D-I-E-G-E-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written German, the 64,132nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gediegen is a German adjective meaning “pure, unadulterated, sterling, solid, native (of a metal)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “in elementarer Form (nicht als Erz) vorkommend”.
What does gediegen mean in English?
adjective
- 1
pure, unadulterated, sterling, solid, native (of a metal)
Kupfer kommt gediegen nur selten in der Natur vor.
- 2
solid, high-quality, well-made
Das ist ein gediegener Schmuck.
- 3
datedsolid, reliable, good
Er ist ein gediegener Charakter; ich kenne wenige, auf die man sich so verlassen kann.
- 4
colloquialodd, strange, peculiar, weird
Er hat manchmal so'n büschen gediegene Ansichten.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. in elementarer Form (nicht als Erz) vorkommend 2. sorgfältig bearbeitet und damit haltbar 3. traditionell schon immer so und damit zuverlässig 4. seltsam oder eigenartig
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 gediegen
- gediegener masculine nominative singular
- am gediegensten superlative
- gediegene feminine nominative singular
- gediegenes neuter nominative singular
- gediegenen genitive masculine singular
- gediegenem dative masculine singular
- der gediegene definite includes-article masculine
- die gediegene definite feminine includes-article
- das gediegene definite includes-article neuter
- die gediegenen definite includes-article nominative
- des gediegenen definite genitive includes-article
- der gediegenen definite feminine genitive
- dem gediegenen dative definite includes-article
- ged. abbreviation
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce gediegen?
- /ɡəˈdiːɡŋ̍/
- [ɡəˈdiːɡn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is gediegen in German?
gediegen appears about once in every 2 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).