buchstabieren

German

Etymology

From Buchstabe (letter) + -ieren (-ise, -ify).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌbuːx.ʃtaˈbiː.rən/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: buch‧sta‧bie‧ren
  • Rhymes: -iːʁən

Verb

buchstabieren (weak, third-person singular present buchstabiert, past tense buchstabierte, past participle buchstabiert, auxiliary haben)

  1. (usually transitive) to spell (name the letters of a word)

Usage notes

  • The German verb generally implies an actual naming of the letters and is not used in the sense of “write out in a particular way”, for which schreiben is used. Thus: Pass auf, dass du alles richtig schreibst! (Be careful to spell (everything) correctly!) Moreover, buchstabieren is not used of letters themselves. One would say, for example: Die Buchstaben A-X-T bilden das Wort „Axt“. (The letters A-X-T spell the word ‘Axt’.) Or: A-X-T ergibt „Axt“. (A-X-T spells ‘Axt’.)

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

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