kauen
German, verb/ˈkaʊ̯ən/
kauen is spelled K-A-U-E-N (5 letters) and appears 2.2 times per million words in written German, the 22,305th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Kauen is a German verb meaning “to chew (something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “Nahrung mit den Zähnen, durch wiederholtes Öffnen und Schließen der Kiefer, zerkleinern”.
What does kauen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to chew (something)
- 2
to chew, to gnaw
- 3
to bite
Er kaut an den/seinen Nägeln.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Nahrung mit den Zähnen, durch wiederholtes Öffnen und Schließen der Kiefer, zerkleinern 2. etwas beißen, an etwas nagen 3. etwas nur mit Mühe und über Dauer überwinden; mit einem Problem kämpfen
noun: 1. Zerkleinern von Nahrung mit den Zähnen
verb: 1. mit den Zähnen zermahlen essen 2. hart arbeiten hart und lange nachdenken
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 kauen
- kaut present singular third-person
- kaute past
- gekaut participle past
- haben auxiliary
- kauend participle present
- kaue first-person indicative present
- kaust indicative present second-person
- kauest second-person singular subjunctive
- kauet plural second-person subjunctive
- kauten first-person indicative plural
- kautest indicative preterite second-person
- kautet indicative plural preterite
- kau imperative second-person singular
- habe gekaut first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gekaut first-person indicative multiword-construction
- kaue! imperative singular
- kau! imperative singular
- kaut! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce kauen?
- /ˈkaʊ̯ən/
- [ˈkaʊ̯ən]
- [ˈkɔɪ̯ən]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to kauen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is kauen in German?
kauen appears 2.2 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).