zutreiben
German, verb[ˈt͡suːˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]
zutreiben is spelled Z-U-T-R-E-I-B-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 28 million words in written German, the 305,454th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zutreiben is a German verb meaning “to drive [with accusative ‘someone/something’, along with dative or auf (+ accusative) ‘towards someone/something/somewhere’]” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “in eine bestimmte Richtung auf ein Ziel hin/zu lenken (treiben)”.
What does zutreiben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to drive [with accusative ‘someone/something’, along with dative or auf (+ accusative) ‘towards someone/something/somewhere’]
- 2
to drift [with dative or auf (+ accusative) ‘towards someone/something/somewhere’]
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. in eine bestimmte Richtung auf ein Ziel hin/zu lenken (treiben) 2. sich einem Endpunkt schwimmend (treibend), langsam aber sicher nähern
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 zutreiben
- treibt zu present singular third-person
- trieb zu past
- zugetrieben participle past
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- 1 strong
- haben or sein auxiliary
- zutreibend participle present
- zuzutreiben infinitive infinitive-zu
- treibe zu first-person indicative present
- treiben zu first-person indicative plural
- treibst zu indicative present second-person
- treibest zu second-person singular subjunctive
- treibet zu plural second-person subjunctive
- trieben zu first-person indicative plural
- triebe zu first-person formal rare
- triebst zu indicative preterite second-person
- triebt zu indicative plural preterite
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce zutreiben?
- [ˈt͡suːˌtʁaɪ̯bn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is zutreiben in German?
zutreiben appears about once in every 28 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).