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zerfallen

German, verb

zerfallen is spelled Z-E-R-F-A-L-L-E-N (9 letters) and appears 1.9 times per million words in written German, the 25,090th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zerfallen is a German verb meaning “to disintegrate” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Zerfällen is a different word: “dative plural of Zerfall”. With a capital, Zerfallen is a different word: “gerund of zerfallen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “in seine Einzelteile auseinanderfallen, sich auflösen”.

What does zerfallen mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to disintegrate

  2. 2

    to decay

noun

as Zerfällen
  1. 1

    masculinedative plural of Zerfall

noun

as Zerfallen
  1. 1

    neutergerund of zerfallen

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. in seine Einzelteile auseinanderfallen, sich auflösen 2. untergehen, aufhören als Ganzes zu existieren, sich nicht aufrechterhalten können 3. sich spontan spalten 4. sich in etwas gliedern, aus Bestandteilen bestehen

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 zerfallen

  • zerfällt present singular third-person
  • zerfiel past
  • sein auxiliary
  • 7 strong
  • zerfallend participle present
  • zerfalle first-person indicative present
  • zerfällst indicative present second-person
  • zerfallt indicative plural present
  • zerfallest second-person singular subjunctive
  • zerfallet plural second-person subjunctive
  • zerfielen first-person indicative plural
  • zerfiele first-person formal rare
  • zerfielst indicative preterite second-person
  • zerfielt indicative plural preterite
  • zerfielest formal rare second-person
  • zerfielet formal plural rare
  • zerfall imperative second-person singular
  • zerfalle! imperative singular

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to zerfallen

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is zerfallen in German?

zerfallen appears 1.9 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).

What to look up after zerfallen