herumtreiben

[hɛˈʁʊmˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]

/[hɛˈʁʊmˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“herumtreiben” is uncommon German (frequency #72,530 among 3,372 “H” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#72,530
frequency rank, German
3,372
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - sich ziellos bewegen, sich an keinem bestimmten Ort aufhalten

Corpus desk

Index DE-herumtreiben · herumtreiben · German

herumtreiben · rank #72,530 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #72,530
  • LEN-MEGA 12 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,372
  • PHOTO-FINISH herumtragen

Nearest frequency peer: herumtragen (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „herumtreiben“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „herumtreiben“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for herumtreiben
PropertyValue
Headwordherumtreiben
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[hɛˈʁʊmˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]
Letters12
Frequency rank#72,530
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „herumtreiben“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).herumtreibenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „herumtragen“ (#72,529), „Heuert“ (#72,531), „Hexenkessel“ (#72,532). Unter 3,372 „H“-Lemmata liegt „herumtreiben“ bei #72,530. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

herumtreiben is uncommon German at frequency #72,530 among 3,372 “H” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [hɛˈʁʊmˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for herumtreiben, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is herumtreiben, spelled H-E-R-U-M-T-R-E-I-B-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    sich ziellos bewegen, sich an keinem bestimmten Ort aufhalten
  2. 2
    jemanden oder etwas im Kreise bewegen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how herumtreiben appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Der Landstreicher treibt sich in den Straßen herum.
  2. Der Wallach scheint Spass daran zu haben, die anderen Pferde auf der Koppel herumzutreiben.

Synonyms

streunenumherziehenumtreibenvagabundierenumhertreiben

This word in other languages

run around(English)vagabundear(Español)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "herumtreiben"?
"herumtreiben" is spelled H-E-R-U-M-T-R-E-I-B-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [hɛˈʁʊmˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩].
What does "herumtreiben" mean?
As a verb, "herumtreiben" means: sich ziellos bewegen, sich an keinem bestimmten Ort aufhalten
How do you pronounce "herumtreiben"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "herumtreiben" is [hɛˈʁʊmˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "herumtreiben" come from?
"herumtreiben" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "herumtreiben", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 12 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hereinkommen#72,526Höchstbetrag#72,556indiskutabel#72,565jugendliches#72,580

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list