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greifen

German, verb

greifen is spelled G-R-E-I-F-E-N (7 letters) and appears 28 times per million words in written German, the 2,891st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Greifen is a German verb meaning “to grab; to grasp; to grip (something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Greifen is a different word: “gerund of greifen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas mit der Hand nehmen”.

What does greifen mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to grab; to grasp; to grip (something)

  2. 2

    to grab; to seize; to snatch (in an aggressive way)

  3. 3

    to reach; to grab

    an etwas greifen

  4. 4

    to come into effect

  5. 5

    to capture (someone)

  6. 6

    to strike

  7. 7

    to take hold; to bite

    Trotz des schlechten Wetters griffen die Reifen hervorragend

noun

as Greifen
  1. 1

    neutergerund of greifen

noun

as Greifen
  1. 1

    plural of Greif

  2. 2

    genitive singular of Greif

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

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. etwas mit der Hand nehmen 2. jemanden fassen, gefangen nehmen 3. die Hand nach jemandem/etwas ausstrecken, um ihn/es zu berühren, zu ergreifen 4. zum Klingen bringen

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 greifen

  • greift present singular third-person
  • griff past
  • gegriffen participle past
  • haben auxiliary
  • 1 strong
  • greifend participle present
  • greife first-person indicative present
  • greifst indicative present second-person
  • greifest second-person singular subjunctive
  • greifet plural second-person subjunctive
  • griffen first-person indicative plural
  • griffe first-person formal rare
  • griffst indicative preterite second-person
  • grifft indicative plural preterite
  • griffest formal rare second-person
  • griffet formal plural rare
  • greif imperative second-person singular
  • greife! imperative singular

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

English words that translate to greifen

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

How common is greifen in German?

greifen appears 28 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 greifen