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graben

German, verb

graben is spelled G-R-A-B-E-N (6 letters) and appears 13 times per million words in written German, the 5,698th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Graben is a German verb meaning “to dig” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Graben is a different word: “ditch”. On this page, Gräben is a different word: “plural of Graben”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Vertiefung in der Erde ausheben”.

What does graben mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to dig

  2. 2

    to burrow

noun

as Graben
  1. 1

    masculineditch

  2. 2

    masculinetrench

  3. 3

    masculinegraben

noun

as Gräben
  1. 1

    plural of Graben

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

noun: 1. länglicher Erdaushub 2. Wassergraben, Hindernis beim Pferderennen 3. Schützengraben, befestigte Stellung an der Front 4. das, was zwei Positionen voneinander trennt

noun: 1. Handlung, etwas zu graben, das Ausheben einer Vertiefung

verb: 1. eine Vertiefung in der Erde ausheben 2. etwas aus der Erde herausnehmen

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 graben

  • gräbt present singular third-person
  • grub past
  • gegraben participle past
  • grübe past subjunctive
  • haben auxiliary
  • 6 strong
  • grabend participle present
  • grabe first-person indicative present
  • gräbst indicative present second-person
  • grabt indicative plural present
  • grabest second-person singular subjunctive
  • grabet plural second-person subjunctive
  • gruben first-person indicative plural
  • grüben first-person formal plural
  • grubst indicative preterite second-person
  • grubt indicative plural preterite
  • grübest formal rare second-person
  • grübst formal rare second-person

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to graben

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is graben in German?

graben appears 13 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).

What to look up after graben