passiv
German, adjective
passiv is spelled P-A-S-S-I-V (6 letters) and appears 5.8 times per million words in written German, the 11,022nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Passiv is a German adjective meaning “passive” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Passiv is a different word: “passive voice”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “im Zustand, nichts zu tun”.
What does passiv mean in English?
adjective
- 1
passive
- 2
being a bottom
adverb
- 1
passively
noun
- 1
neuterpassive voice
- 2
neuterpassive verb
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. eine der beiden Diathesen, ein Genus Verbi, Leideform 2. Wirtschaft: die Passivseite einer buchhalterischen Bilanz
adjective: 1. im Zustand, nichts zu tun 2. erduldend, was einem passiert, ohne etwas dagegen zu tun 3. im Passiv befindlich (= Konjugationsformen des Verbs) 4. (auf der passiven Seite der Bestandskonten) ruhend, nicht aktiv (zum Beispiel Darlehen oder Eigenkapital)
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 passiv
- passiver masculine nominative singular
- passive feminine nominative singular
- passives neuter nominative singular
- passiven genitive masculine singular
- passivem dative masculine singular
- der passive definite includes-article masculine
- die passive definite feminine includes-article
- das passive definite includes-article neuter
- die passiven definite includes-article nominative
- des passiven definite genitive includes-article
- der passiven definite feminine genitive
- dem passiven dative definite includes-article
- den passiven dative definite includes-article
- Passive nominative plural
- Passivs genitive singular
- Passiven dative plural
- am passivsten superlative
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to passiv
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is passiv in German?
passiv appears 5.8 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).