tief
German, adjective
tief is spelled T-I-E-F (4 letters) and appears 66 times per million words in written German, the 1,293rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Tief is a German adjective meaning “deep (having a long distance to the bottom; of bodies of water, wells, etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Tief is a different word: “depression, low (area of comparatively low air pressure)”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “räumlich weit nach unten ausgedehnt”.
What does tief mean in English?
adjective
- 1
deep (having a long distance to the bottom; of bodies of water, wells, etc.)
Wie tief ist das Wasser?
- 2
deep, profound (intense or significant)
tiefe Trauer
- 3
low (situated close to, or below, the ground)
Du hast das Bild zu tief gehängt.
- 4
Switzerlandlow (small, not high in amount or quantity, value, etc.)
tiefere Abgaben
noun
- 1
neuterdepression, low (area of comparatively low air pressure)
- 2
neuterlow point (of some real or imaginary statistic)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. räumlich weit nach unten ausgedehnt 2. nahe am Zentrum, Innersten 3. verstärkend, wenn hoch unpassend ist 4. von niedriger Frequenz
noun: 1. kurz für Tiefdruckgebiet 2. Zeitspanne mit sehr niedrigem oder negativem Wirtschaftswachstum
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 tief
- tiefer masculine nominative singular
- am tiefsten superlative
- tiefe feminine nominative singular
- tiefes neuter nominative singular
- tiefen genitive masculine singular
- tiefem dative masculine singular
- der tiefe definite includes-article masculine
- die tiefe definite feminine includes-article
- das tiefe definite includes-article neuter
- die tiefen definite includes-article nominative
- des tiefen definite genitive includes-article
- der tiefen definite feminine genitive
- dem tiefen dative definite includes-article
- Tiefs nominative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to tief
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is tief in German?
tief appears 66 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).