grauen
German, verb
grauen is spelled G-R-A-U-E-N (6 letters) and appears 12 times per million words in written German, the 6,162nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Grauen is a German verb meaning “to cause terror” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a strong genitive masculine/neuter singular of grau. With a capital, Grauen is a different word: “gerund of grauen; horror”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Grauen erwecken”.
What does grauen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to cause terror
Mir graut es schon vor der Prüfung.
- 2
to be terrified
Ich graue mich vor der morgigen Prüfung.
verb
- 1
to break, to dawn
- 2
to dusk
- 3
archaicto become grey
Sein Fell graut.
adjective
- 1
masculineneuterstrong genitive masculine/neuter singular
- 2
weak/mixed genitive/dative all-gender singular
- 3
masculinestrong/weak/mixed accusative masculine singular
- 4
strong dative plural
- 5
weak/mixed all-case plural
noun
- 1
neutergerund of grauen; horror
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Gefühl der Furcht, des Entsetzens aufgrund von etwas Bedrohlichem 2. Gefühl des Schauderns in einer unheimlichen Situation 3. furchtbares Geschehen
verb: 1. Grauen erwecken 2. Angst, Furcht empfinden 3. sich durch Veränderung der Lichtverhältnisse bemerkbar machen 4. grau werden
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 grauen
- graut present singular third-person
- graute past
- gegraut participle past
- haben auxiliary
- grauend participle present
- graue first-person indicative present
- graust indicative present second-person
- grauest second-person singular subjunctive
- grauet plural second-person subjunctive
- grauten first-person indicative plural
- grautest indicative preterite second-person
- grautet indicative plural preterite
- grau imperative second-person singular
- habe gegraut first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gegraut first-person indicative multiword-construction
- Grausen variant
- Grauens genitive singular
- grau! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to grauen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is grauen in German?
grauen appears 12 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).