vernichten
German, verb
vernichten is spelled V-E-R-N-I-C-H-T-E-N (10 letters) and appears 8.1 times per million words in written German, the 8,348th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Vernichten is a German verb meaning “to destroy; to ruin; to wreck” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Vernichten is a different word: “gerund of vernichten”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “zerstören, (bewusst und unmittelbar gewaltsam) nichtigmachen”.
What does vernichten mean in English?
verb
- 1
to destroy; to ruin; to wreck
- 2
to annihilate; to benothing; to eradicate; to extinguish (to make dying out or nothing)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of vernichten
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. zerstören, (bewusst und unmittelbar gewaltsam) nichtigmachen 2. die Legitimation entziehen; das Ansehen beschädigen – Bedeutung [1] mit Bezug auf Ansehen oder Ähnliches.
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 vernichten
- vernichtet present singular third-person
- vernichtete past
- haben auxiliary
- vernichtend participle present
- vernichte first-person indicative present
- vernichtest indicative present second-person
- vernichteten first-person indicative plural
- vernichtetest indicative preterite second-person
- vernichtetet indicative plural preterite
- vernicht imperative second-person singular
- habe vernichtet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben vernichtet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- vernichte! imperative singular
- vernichtet! imperative plural
- vernichtet haben active infinitive perfect
- vernichtet werden processual-passive infinitive present
- vernichtet worden sein processual-passive infinitive perfect
- vernichtet sein statal-passive infinitive present
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to vernichten
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is vernichten in German?
vernichten appears 8.1 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).