umgeben
German, verb
umgeben is spelled U-M-G-E-B-E-N (7 letters) and appears 16 times per million words in written German, the 4,698th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Umgeben is a German verb meaning “to surround (to encircle or simultaneously extend on all sides of something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Umgeben is a different word: “gerund of umgeben”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “um jemanden etwas herumgeben, etwas umhängen”.
What does umgeben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to surround (to encircle or simultaneously extend on all sides of something)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of umgeben
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. um jemanden etwas herumgeben, etwas umhängen
verb: 1. jemanden und etwas in unmittelbare Nähe, Sichtweite, Reichweite, den näheren Umkreis bringen 2. sich im Umkreis von etwas oder jemandem zu allen Seiten befinden
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 umgeben
- umgibt present singular third-person
- umgab past
- umgäbe past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 5 strong
- umgebend participle present
- umgebe first-person indicative present
- umgibst indicative present second-person
- umgebt indicative plural present
- umgebest second-person singular subjunctive
- umgebet plural second-person subjunctive
- umgaben first-person indicative plural
- umgäben first-person formal plural
- umgabst indicative preterite second-person
- umgabt indicative plural preterite
- umgäbest formal rare second-person
- umgäbst formal rare second-person
- umgäbet formal plural rare
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to umgeben
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is umgeben in German?
umgeben appears 16 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).