Stau
German, noun
Stau is spelled S-T-A-U (4 letters) and appears 8.9 times per million words in written German, the 7,736th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Stau is a German masculine noun meaning “congestion, stagnancy of water or anything dammed or otherwise backed-up” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). In lower case, stau is a different word: “singular imperative of stauen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “durch eine Behinderung oder ein Hindernis verursachte Störung des Durchflusses oder Durchgangs; Nomen acti…”.
What does Stau mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinecongestion, stagnancy of water or anything dammed or otherwise backed-up
- 2
masculineellipsis of Verkehrsstau (“traffic jam”)
- 3
masculineweir
verb
- 1
singular imperative of stauen
- 2
colloquialfirst-person singular present of stauen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. durch eine Behinderung oder ein Hindernis verursachte Störung des Durchflusses oder Durchgangs; Nomen acti: Ergebnis des Stauens 2. schwere Behinderung auf Transportwegen mit der Folge: „stehender/stockender Verkehr“ 3. gestiegener Wasserstand/Pegel wegen eines Hindernisses 4. hoher Wasserstand während der Stauzeit
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 Stau
- Staus genitive
- Staue plural
- Stauen dative definite plural
- Staues genitive singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to Stau
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is Stau in German?
Stau appears 8.9 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).