gerben
German, verb
gerben is spelled G-E-R-B-E-N (6 letters) and appears about once in every 5 million words in written German, the 110,302nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gerben is a German verb meaning “to tan (prepare hide)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Gerben is a different word: “gerund of gerben”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Verarbeitung von rohen Tierhäuten zu Leder”.
What does gerben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to tan (prepare hide)
- 2
datedto beat, spank, tan
- 3
obsoletevulgarto fuck (have sexual intercourse with)
- 4
obsoleteto crush and decorticate grains
noun
- 1
neutergerund of gerben
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Verarbeitung von rohen Tierhäuten zu Leder
noun: 1. Verarbeitung von rohen Tierhäuten zu Leder
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 gerben
- gerbt present singular third-person
- gerbte past
- gegerbt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- gerbend participle present
- gerbe first-person indicative present
- gerbst indicative present second-person
- gerbest second-person singular subjunctive
- gerbet plural second-person subjunctive
- gerbten first-person indicative plural
- gerbtest indicative preterite second-person
- gerbtet indicative plural preterite
- gerb imperative second-person singular
- habe gegerbt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gegerbt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- gerbe! imperative singular
- gerbt! imperative plural
- gegerbt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is gerben in German?
gerben appears about once in every 5 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).