zerbrechen
German, verb
zerbrechen is spelled Z-E-R-B-R-E-C-H-E-N (10 letters) and appears 3.3 times per million words in written German, the 16,674th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zerbrechen is a German verb meaning “to break into pieces, to shatter, to snap (to cause an object to come apart into discrete pieces)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Zerbrechen is a different word: “gerund of zerbrechen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “kaputtgehen (wenn es dabei Splitter oder Brocken erzeugt)”.
What does zerbrechen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to break into pieces, to shatter, to snap (to cause an object to come apart into discrete pieces)
Paul hat vor Wut seinen Bleistift zerbrochen.
- 2
to break into pieces, to shatter (to come apart into discrete pieces)
Das Glas ist mir aus der Hand gefallen und zerbrochen.
- 3
to fall apart, to break up (of relationships, coalitions, groups, etc., caused by an insurmountable disagreement)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of zerbrechen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. kaputtgehen (wenn es dabei Splitter oder Brocken erzeugt) 2. emotional zutiefst geschädigt werden 3. etwas wie bei [1] kaputt machen (zerstören)
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 zerbrechen
- zerbricht present singular third-person
- zerbrach past
- zerbrochen participle past
- zerbräche past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- 4 strong
- haben or sein auxiliary
- zerbrechend participle present
- zerbreche first-person indicative present
- zerbrichst indicative present second-person
- zerbrecht indicative plural present
- zerbrechest second-person singular subjunctive
- zerbrechet plural second-person subjunctive
- zerbrachen first-person indicative plural
- zerbrächen first-person formal plural
- zerbrachst indicative preterite second-person
- zerbracht indicative plural preterite
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to zerbrechen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is zerbrechen in German?
zerbrechen appears 3.3 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).