Bein

See also: bein, be-in, and bein'

German

Etymology

From Middle High German bein, from Old High German bein, from Proto-West Germanic *bain, from Proto-Germanic *bainą. Compare Dutch been, English bone, Danish ben.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪ̯n/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

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• Rhymes: -aɪ̯n

Noun

Bein n (strong, genitive Beines or Beins, plural Beine, diminutive Beinchen n)

1. leg of a person, animal, or object
2. (technical, archaic, except in compounds) bone

   Synonym: Knochen

Usage notes

• In a narrower sense, German Bein excludes the feet, but for the most part it includes them. It can even refer to the feet specifically in some regions where a clothed but barefoot person might hear Du hast ja nichts an den Beinen! (literally “You have nothing on your legs!”) Compare also the phrase wieder auf den Beinen, where English says “back on one’s feet”.
• The sense of bone is widely obsolete in standard usage, apart from technical usage ("aus Bein geschnitzt"), some common phrases, such as "durch Mark und Bein", and various compounds, such as Schlüsselbein, Elfenbein, Steißbein.

Declension

Declension of Bein [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Bein	die	Beine
genitive	eines	des	Beines, Beins	der	Beine
dative	einem	dem	Bein, Beine1	den	Beinen
accusative	ein	das	Bein	die	Beine

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

leg

• auf den Beinen
• auf die Beine stellen
• auf einem Bein kann man nicht stehen
• Bankbein
• Beine bis zum Boden
• Hinterbein
• Holzbein
• Hosenbein
• Stuhlbein
• Tischbein
• Vorderbein

 

bone

• Beinhaus n
• Brustbein
• Dickbein
• durch Mark and Bein
• Elfenbein n
• Gebein n
• Nasenbein n
• Scheitelbein
• Schienbein
• Schläfenbein
• Schlüsselbein n
• Stein and Bein schwören
• Steißbein n
• Wadenbein

 

Further reading

• “Bein” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Bein” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Bein” in Duden online
• “Bein” in OpenThesaurus.de
• Bein on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• “Bein” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

German Low German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛɪ̯n/, /baɪ̯n/

Noun

Bein m (plural Beiner)

1. Alternative form of Been (“leg”)

Noun

Bein n (plural has not been set)

1. Alternative form of Been (“bone”)