zubauen
German, verb
zubauen is spelled Z-U-B-A-U-E-N (7 letters) and appears about once in every 8 million words in written German, the 144,446th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zubauen is a German verb meaning “to cover an area with new buildings, to fill gaps with new buildings, to develop” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Zubauen is a different word: “gerund of zubauen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Gebäude errichten, die Baulücken füllen oder große Flächen bedecken”.
What does zubauen mean in English?
verb
- 1
derogatoryto cover an area with new buildings, to fill gaps with new buildings, to develop
- 2
to block something by constructing a new building (e.g., the view or an entry of an already existing building)
- 3
Austriato expand a building (e.g., adding rooms or another floor)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of zubauen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Gebäude errichten, die Baulücken füllen oder große Flächen bedecken 2. einen Durchgang vorübergehend unpassierbar machen, indem dort Sachen hingestellt werden
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 zubauen
- baut zu present singular third-person
- baute zu past
- zugebaut participle past
- haben auxiliary
- zubauend participle present
- zuzubauen infinitive infinitive-zu
- baue zu first-person indicative present
- bauen zu first-person indicative plural
- baust zu indicative present second-person
- bauest zu second-person singular subjunctive
- bauet zu plural second-person subjunctive
- bauten zu first-person indicative plural
- bautest zu indicative preterite second-person
- bautet zu indicative plural preterite
- bau zu! imperative singular
- baue zu! imperative singular
- baut zu! imperative plural
- zugebaut haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is zubauen in German?
zubauen appears about once in every 8 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).