begreifen
German
Etymology
From Middle High German begrifen, from Old High German bigrīfan, from Proto-West Germanic *bigrīpan. Equivalent to be- + greifen. Compare English begripe and Dutch begrijpen.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bəˈɡʁaɪ̯fən/, [-fən], [-fn̩], [-fɱ̩]
Audio (Austria) (file) Audio (file)
Verb
begreifen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present begreift, past tense begriff, past participle begriffen, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive) to grasp fully; to comprehend; to conceive, to fathom
- Synonyms: durchdringen, einsehen, erkennen
- Der menschliche Verstand kann die Ewigkeit nicht wirklich begreifen.
- The human mind cannot really comprehend eternity.
- (transitive, rather formal) to understand intellectually
- Ich begreife nicht, wie das geschehen konnte.
- I don’t understand how that could have happened.
- (transitive or reflexive, rather formal) to consider (to be); to see (as)
- 2010, Der Spiegel, number 33/2010, page 71:
- Betroffen sind nun vor allem auch die gutausgebildeten und bislang gutverdienenden Leute. Diejenigen, die sich als solide Mittelklasse begreifen.
- Also affected are now especially the well-educated and so far well-paid people. The ones that see themselves as solid middle class.
Conjugation
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Derived terms
Derived terms
- Begreifen
- Begreifer
- Begreifung
- begreifend
- begriffen
Related terms
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