Hello everyone,
and welcome to our German Word of the Day. This time we’ll have a look at the meaning of
hauen
A word that you’ll probably not find in text books and that means it’s probably super cool.
The origin of hauen is the super ancient Indo European root *kāu-, which meant to strike, to hew. And yes, to hew is also an offspring of that root, as do the word hay and the German translation das Heu, which literally are “that which is hewn”. And you know what other word belongs to the same family? Code.
How does that work? Well, in Latin, a codex originally simply meant trunk of a cut down tree. Then people started using it for wooden tablets they would cut from trunks and then it slowly shifted toward the laws that people wrote down on such tablets. But the very origin is the old Indo European root *kau and the idea of striking, hewing.
But enough with the history. Let’s get to our actual word of the day hauen.
Unlike code and hay, this has barely changed at all. Hauen still mean to beat, to punch, to strike. It’s basically a synonym for schlagen (to beat, to punch). It sounds a bit less forceful and you can often find it in context with little kids quarreling.
- Frau Lehrerin, Billy hat mich gehauen.
- Miss teacher, billy punched me.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- “Haumich und Pflaumich sitzen auf dem Baum. Pflaumich fällt runter. Wer bleibt oben?”
“Haumi… oh mist.” - “Hunchme and Punchme are sitting on a tree. Hunchme falls down. Who’s still up there?”
“Punchm… oh crap” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The second one is classic prank on elementary school yards. If you say the name “Haumich” you’re basically saying “punch me!” and then the other kid goes like “Okay” and punches you. Yeah, kids fancy themselves soooooo clever. When I have kids I’m gonna try to turn that joke on them. Like this…
Shmiledothedishes and Illdothedishes are sitting on a tree. Shmiledothedishes falls down. Who’s still up?
Ha… can’t wait to see their faces when they realize what they just said.
Anyway, hauen is not limited to the kids world, especially not with prefixes so let’s look at some of those, too.
- Wenn Marc keine Argumente mehr einfallen, haut er zu.
- Whenever Marc is out of arguments, he starts punching/resorts to violence.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich habe mir beim Holzhacken fast den Finger abgehauen.
- I almost chopped off my finger while chopping wood.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Thomas hat seinem Bruder eine reingehauen.
- Thomas punched his brother in the face.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
There are also a few related words. A Bildhauer for instance is a sculptor, the noun der Hieb is a rare word for punch and ein Hauer is the German term for the tusk of a boar. Which might make go like “Yeah… the dusk of bore. That’s actually what I feel like I’m entering right now. Why the hell are we talking about hauen again?”
Well, because there are so many cool colloquial expressions with hauen and …
they’re all super common
Seriously… if you want to sound like a German, if you want to impress your friends with how idiomatic you sound… hauen can make a huge difference so let’s take a look.
“hauen” – colloquial expressions
Let’s start with umhauen and raushauen. Umhauen can literally mean to knock over but it’s also used in a more abstract sense of to impress and raushauen basically means to put out… just with an energetic feel to it.
- Dieser Preis wird Sie umhauen.
- This price will knock your socks off. (lit.: will knock you to the ground)
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Star Radio wird 5 Jahre alt… deshalb hauen wir diese Woche jeden Tag 10.000 Euro raus. Also bleibt dran.
- Star Radio turns 5 years old … that’s why this week we’re cranking out 11.000 Dollar every day, so stay tuned.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Thomas haut manchmal die krassesten Sprüche raus.
- Sometimes Thomas drops the craziest lines/one liners.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
I think for these two,the original sense of striking, punching is still quite visible. That’s also true for the next one, hinhauen, in sense of lying down for a nap. Literally you’re “punching” yourself down.
- Ich hau mich ein bisschen hin.
- I’ll lie down for a bit.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
But hinhauen has a second meaning, and that’s not quite as obvious. The second meaning is something like to work out, not in sense of sports but in sense of to go well. It’s used for small scale, short term stuff where you try something. Like… trying out a new, complicated recipe, fixing a computer or even controlling numbers.
- Ich hab’s neu installiert. Hat alles hingehauen. Danke für den Tipp.
- I reinstalled it. Everything worked out/worked well. Thanks for the advise.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich bezahl 15 Euro, du 10… ich glaub das haut ungefähr hin.
- I’ll pay 15 Euro you’ll put in 10… I think that’s about right.
(two people splitting a bill at a bar without actually adding up the drinks) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich habe 100 Stunden gearbeitet aber nur 800 Euro bekommen. Da haut irgendwas nicht hin.
- I worked 100 hours but I only got 800 Euros. Something doesn’t add up there.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
What that has to do with hinhauen… I don’t know. Maybe it’s about having an effect or something. In either case, it’s quite common and when you’re in Germany I’m almost sure you’ll hear it at some point.
And what I’m absolutely sure you’ll come across are abhauen and reinhauen. We’ve already seen that it can mean to chop off. But what it’s really used for is leaving, hastily going away.
- Hau ab, du idiot!
- Piss off, you idiot!
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Der Manager ist mit dem Geld abgehauen.
- The manager bolted with the money.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Ich glaub, ich hau gleich ab.
- I think I’m gonna take off soon.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
This is already super common but the crown jewel is reinhauen. Reinhauen also means to leave but unlike abhauen it has no notion of fleeing in it. It is more like leaving from a party or leaving from work and at least in Northern Germany, it’s even used as a way to say good bye.
- Ich glaub, ich hau rein.
- I think I’m gonna head out/leave.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Lass mal reinhauen.
- Let’s head home/leave.
(destination depends on context, but it’s somewhat homeward bound so don’t use it when you start a journey) - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Hau rein. /Hauste rein, wa./Rinjehaun.
- Take care man/bye.
The latter two are Berlin dialect - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
The last one has a high slang factor though, so you shouldn’t use at the end of a meeting with your boss or after the first dinner with your crush.
And speaking of eating… that brings us to the next meaning of reinhauen. Yes, it has more than one. Reinhauen can also mean to eat a lot and with joy. You punch the food in your mouth, if you will.
- Haut rein.
- Enjoy your meal, guys.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
- Wenn’s irgendwo Kaviar gibt, hau ich immer orderntlich rein.
- If there’s caviar somewhere I always dig in.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
And as if that wasn’t enough reinhauen is also used in context of alcohol or drugs having a strong effect.
- Boah, dieses Starkbier haut ganz schön rein.
- Dude, this strong beer does go to your head.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
I don’t really know a cool, colloquial expression for that in English.
Anyway, so is hauen a cool word or is it a cool word? Especially abhauen and the various reinhauens are really cool and if you raushauen one at the right time you’ll will definitely umhauen you friends :).
Make sure you don’t overdo it, though. ‘Cause that kinda thing… like… when ur tryin’ real hard to sound like a native and stuff… that gets ridic right quick. Faster than shit through a goose.
See what I mean ;).
All right folks, that’s it for today. This was our look at hauen and its numerous colloquial uses. If you have any questions or if you want to try out some examples before using them in the wild, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and see you next time. Haut rein.
Click here to download all audio files (zip-archive, mp3 files)
** vocab **
hauen – the punch, beat
der Hieb – the punch
der Bildhauer – the sculptor, the carver
Hau-den-Lukas – high striker/ring-the-bell (this funfair thing where you have to test your strength)
reinhauen – head out/home, dig in (with food), have a strong effect (especially in context of drugs)
jemandem eine reinhauen – punch someone in the face
abhauen – chop off, quickly leave, bolt, flee
umhauen – knock over, seriously impress
raushauen – put out, crank out
hinhauen – work out, add up (a bit tricky to use idiomatically)
zuhauen – strike a blow, also used as a generic word for getting violent
again a wonderful article
So can I generally use hinhauen in same sense I would use klappen? Es klappt – it works out. Es haut hin?
“hinhauen” sounds more “experimental” or “make-shift”.
I would first learn to use “klappen” and then sprinkle in a “hinhauen” here and there, but not use them interchangeably. That’ll be too much “hinhauen” then and it’ll come across like you’re trying really really hard to use slang.
Hi Emanuel
I am watching a German show for learning English and it translated “Wenn ich sie alle reinhaue.” As “When I f*** ‘em all up.” I didn’t find reinhauen to be a curse word anywhere else. Maybe they translated it like that because the character was acting real intimidating when her pretty blonde self said it so it just emphasized her hardness but might it be a “bad” word like the translation “f***” would imply?
Hmmm… quite confusing actually.
It kind of sort of would make sense to me, if “sie/them” referred to a bunch of exams that the speaker then botches (f’***s up)
I would not use “reinhauen” that way, but that’s what I understood at first.
But if it’s about actual violence… it doesn’t feel like an idiomatic use of “reinhauen” to me.
Could you give me a bit more context as to what’s happening in the scene?
Or is it on Youtube maybe, so I can take a look?
Thanks for responding!
It’s actually from a short series on Lingopie called “Pax Aeterna”…and I just found it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/0RQDtrSYGg8
The line happens at about 6:20.
All right, got it.
She is saying:
But she does mumble it and it does sound similar to what you heard.
“jemandem eine reinhauen” means “to punch someone in the face”.
Ah, got it. I’ll add that to my Fighting Words vocabulary list. Is that considered “adult language” or would that show up on kids shows in Germany?
Definitely in cartoons and I can see kids use it in school. It does sound rather violent though, so it’s not just a slap.
Hi Emanuel
This article reminded of one of recent episodes of EasyGerman podcast. They use the verb “raushauen” a couple of times. I don’t remember the exact sentence but as they are talking about Olaf Scholz, Cary says something like this:
It’s probably the same as:
I didn’t find enough about this verb. duden says “spontan äußern” but it doesn’t help much. Could you please give me more details. What does it exactlz mean when used in combination with words like “Spruch, Wort, Satz”.
Thanks a lot!
It’s basically just a colloquial, energetic sounding verb for “to say”… usually in contexts of “dropping” something that’s impressive (knowledge, insult, truth…).
The way they used it in the podcast as you described is new to me, and does NOT fit Olaf Scholz’ mode of talking but yeah… it’s a colloquial term so people are free to use it however they want :)
It makes more sense now
I think it’s one of the words that I need to see or hear in different contexts before I get a better feeling for.
I read your Articles a few times per month but they are among most important resources for my language learning.
Thanks Emanuel
Hi Emanuel!
First i would like to thank you for your great blog. Is it possible that reinhauen and abhauen have their origin from knocking on the table when leaving a big group or the act of closing the door shut while u leave? Just curious!
Best Regards
That would make total sense but I can’t tell for sure. There’s no etymological source to be found for this use :).
> You punch the food in your mouth
hilarious. will not forget this.
I recently heard a coworker use “anhauen” and when I asked someone about it, they explained it to mean “to call on someone”, but I’m still not quite sure what it means.
It’s a very colloquial use… I would understand it in a sense that someone asks you for (loaned) money or a favor.
– Kann ich dich um 10 Euro anhauen.
Hi Emanuel
Ich habe kürzlich den folgenden Satz gelesen:
Wenn sie keine Lust hat, dann haut sie ihre Hausaufgaben einfach schnell hin.
Ich verstehe diesen Satz nicht ganz. Es scheint widersprüchlich zu sein. Er bedeutet, gut zu arbeiten, aber jemand hat nicht den Wunsch dazu. Was gibt es hier?
Wie immer, Vielen Dank!!!
Ah, nein, das ist ein Missvertändnis. In diesem Kontext ist “hinhauen” ein sehr sehr umgangssprachliches Wort für “slap down” im Sinne von “schnell machen, ohne sich Mühe zu geben”.
Aber versuch nicht, das selber zu verwenden. Das passt fast nie!
Hoffe, das hilft.
For those interested in more examples with reinhauen, Deutsche Welle explained this word in one of their posts here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152171834627394.1073741833.146790007393&type=3 They have a whole album on fb called Wortschatz that is literally the dream of every german learner!
Looks great! But the link only leads to the folder, not the post about “hauen/reinhauen”. Is there any way to get to that directly? Becuase they have a lot of stuff there :)
I came across the word hauen in the satirical verse of Jan Boehmermann that has so upset the Turkish president – (https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/tv/jan-boehmermann-das-sind-die-fakten-der-staatsaffaere-a-1086571.html)
Thanks for explaining its meaning and origins.
In kanada beer was limited to 4.5%, now IPA is around 7%. However “Everclear” packs a punch and will knock-your-socks-off.
I think I would say, ‘this beer blows your head off’.
I need some of that beer :D
This brewery has you covered:
https://www.schorschbraeu.de/portfolio-item/schorschbock-43-02-liter-amber-2015/
Danke!! deine Posten und Beiträge sind wie immer sehr interessant und hat mich etwas neue gelehrt. Während meine Reise nach Deutschland habe ich diese Wort getroffen, aber leider bis jetzt nicht richtig verstehen. Laut die Spectrum von Bedeutungen, es ist kein Wunder. Hau rein :)
Hier mal ein paar Korrekturen:
– Deine Posts (not “posten”) …. haben (not “hat” because plural) mich etwas neues (after “etwas” adjectives always get an “s”) gelehrt.
– Während meineR Reise nach Deutschland habe ich dieseS Wort getroffen …. “getroffen” ist nicht so idiomatisch in dem Kontext. Besser wäre “gehört”.
– … aber leider bis jetzt nicht richtig verstanden (not: verstehen)
– Laut dem Spektrum…. “laut” only works for textsor statements but not for a “Spektrum”. A really good word here would be “angesichts” (in light of, considering)
Ich finde Ihre Website super, um umgangssprachliches Deutsch zu lernen. Könnten sie bitte ein Paar weitere Beispiele für Redewendungen mit ,hauen’ erzählen, z.b. ,Das haut mich vom Hocker’ und “Wir haben richtig auf die Pauke gehauen’?
Die beiden, die du genannt hast, sind schon mit die besten. Weißt du, was sie bedeuten?
Hier sind noch ein paar:
– Ich hau mich auf’s Ohr. (so, wie “sich hinhauen”)
– Geld auf den Kopf hauen (spend an amount of money quickly, usually money you just earned)
– auf den Putz hauen (do something to an extreme… usually in context of party, also in sense of bragging)
– jemanden über’s Ohr hauen (to defraud someone)
– jemanden in die Pfanne hauen (to rat someone out, to betray/bring into a miserable position by talking)
Great stuff! Always thought ‘hauen’ was only prevalent in my home country, Austria. Hence ‘Fleischhauer’ for ‘butchet’. I also grew up in Vienna with the slang expression ‘sich abhauen’ when we found something amusing. “Ich hau mich ab.” “What a laugh. ” Seems a long time ago, though – not sure how much this is in use now. I love reading about origins of words. Thank you for your posts!
Hey, great to get the Austrian perspective every now and then :). Is “Fleischhauer” really used? Like… would you say “Ich geh zum Bäcker und zum Fleischhauer”?
As for the “abhauen” you mentioned… I’d say
“ich hau mich weg.”. But it’s not super common and I’m not sure as to how widespread it is.
“Ich hau mich ab!” sounds like “That cracks me up!” in English.
not so sure about the vocab definition of zuhauen (“do one blow”). I think to hit someone or strike a blow might be better. in English ‘do blow’ is to take cocaine.
Oh, then it’s not a good fit. I’ll go with strike a blow then. Thanks
Is it necessarily literal? Like, Marc runs out of his arguments, so he starts actually hitting people?
“Lash out” would fit the context there, but it’s more likely to be figurative.
Yeah, “zuhauen” is always literal. “Er haut zu” really means he punches someone.
“zuschlagen” on the other hand can be used figuratively, too…. something like “to hit” in sense of snatching an opportunity
– Wenn es irgendwo billige Jeans gibt, schlägt Thomas zu.
(not the best example, but I can’t come up with something good)
I actually hear “zuschlagen” a lot for “reinhauen” with food from somebody I know (who grew up in Bavaria, if there’s any regional aspect to it).
When I read “raushauen” I thought you would speak about prisons. It did later occur to me that you did not refer to this meaning of the word. For me the meaning: “jmd. aus etw. raushauen” is even stronger than the “to put out” meaning. You know if your friend is in a difficult situation and he really needs someones help like if he is arrested for inappropriate behavior you would say:
“Keine Angst. Ich hau’ dich da schon raus.” = “Don’t falter. I will get you out of there.”
You might not go as far as actually hitting your way through the police force but you play your cards pay money persuade lawers and judges. “raushauen”.
By the way thanks for another cool word of the day.
Oh, right! I totally forgot about this one. It’s definitely something people say in daily life, too. Thanks for adding that. Are you a native speaker of German or how do you know about this?
Well, yes, I am. But that does not mean I can’t read your post, does it? I mean there are evidently other Germans who enjoy your website and I can understand them. It is great. I stumbled upon it because a friend of mine learns German and I wanted to explain something to him and was frankly out of words. I linked him to you but I think nowadays I am more often on this site than he is. So, that was my story. By the way it also helps to broaden my English understanding if I read your posts. (At least that is what I am telling myself…)
Of course you can read the blog :). It’s really motivating for me that natives appreciate it and it’s also great to have some native speakers around they can correct me if I say something wrong or if I generalize too much.
What is the relationship to “die Haut” (the skin)?
That comes from the Indo-European root *keu- (khad) which is about “covering with a hull”. Hood, hide, hat… they all come from that root. Looking at the roots of this and “hauen” it seems like they could be related but no such connection is mentioned in the sources. These roots often look very similar but ultimately I don’t think “Haut” is related in any way.
I never ever heard reinhauen for abhauen. That must be a regionalism in Berlin. BTW a Hauer can also denote a hewer – a miner who loosens rock and minerals in a mine.
I did a quick Google search to be sure:
https://www.google.de/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=abhauen%20bayern
The first two hits is the Bayrische Rundfunk using the word “abhauen” in a title, so it’s not a regionalism (Duden doesn’t list it as such either but I don’t want to reference Duden). As for “reinhauen”… I couldn’t find a reference with location online so maybe that is a regional thing. If so it definitely includes Brandenburg though. And “reinhauen” in sense of drugs or food is spread all over Germany as far as I know. Where are you from again? (I think I’ve asked you before but I forgot… was it Austria?)
Oh, I just realized I misread your comment.. I read “or” instead of “for” Sorry :)
I checked with a friend from Bochum today and she said she’s very familiar with “reinhauen” as “leaving” so it’s at least the northern half of Germany.
Thanks for another great post Emanuel. I believe you have correctly identified a cultural phenomenon about drinking culture in the anglosphere. While it might be OK for your mum to declare that a glass of beer has gone straight to her head, anyone who wants to sound cool had better keep that shit to themselves!
So there really isn’t a colloquial way to say that an alcoholic beverage has a strong effect (although it’s objectively not that strong maybe)?
This is tricky and contextual. I could say to my friends, who know me, that “this drink is strong”. Just from that, they’d know that I mean the alcohol is going to affect me. But if certain other friends were to say that, I’d know they just meant the taste is strong. I can’t think of a single phrase that carries the same intent as reinhauen. Maybe the word potent, but that sounds more formal to me.
Trying to think of a good way to say this… probably the closest that comes to mind is “has (got) a kick to it.” That’s not alcohol-specific, but definitely has the right meaning.
But yeah, “go to one’s head” sounds kind of stiff and definitely not colloquial nowadays. Part of the problem is that it’s much more commonly used figuratively – power or fame goes to somebody’s head, that sort of thing.
Sounds like “go to one’s head” is similar to “jemandem zu Kopf steigen”… that’s the phrasing for fame or sudden wealth or something making you arrogant.
“Having a kick” tends to be reserved for over proof hard liquor and is equally to do with the burning sensation in the throat as the dizzying effect on the brain. Standard spirits tend to be described on a scale from “rough” to “smooth”. If a beer is genuinely strong then I just don’t think there’s a cool or particularly colloquial way to say it. If remark should need to be passed, some variation of “this is strong” would do the job.
Maybe it’s regional, but I wouldn’t at all restrict it to hard liquor – actually, googling it now, I find that it’s most commonly a reference to spiciness in food. So I’ll agree that “kick” is more likely to do with flavor or sensation, but I think it could be understood with reference to alcoholic potency in context perfectly well, regardless of the specific beverage.
I’ve thought of something you could say if you really wanted to, although it would sound a bit like you were an undercover marketing tout for the beer in question: “this beer/cider will knock/hit you for six (i.e. cricket)” or “… knock you sideways”. I can imagine using those terms for my first few breathlessly enthusiastic encounters with “Thatcher’s Dry” (a rough dry cider from near Bristol – worth the price of a summer trip to Bristol by itself).
That’s true! I could definitely say “this will knock you off your feet”…definitely fits with hauen.
And among friends, ‘this will knock you on your ass”.
“Knock you on your ass” is probably the first American equivalent that would come to mind.
Yes, anything with “knock”. Thinking about it more (I really should get back to work), an assortment of idioms denoting the effect of a “severe personal setback” can be and are, I think, also used by young people, in a positive sense, to communicate the effect of their favourite poison. E.g. “a couple of pints of snakebite (strong lager mixed with strong cider) will defo fuck you up”
I frequently use phrases with hit to talk about the effect of alcohol, especially if I’m a little surprised. Examples: that beer/drink/alcohol hit me hard; I think/I can tell/whoa the alcohol is hitting me now.
“Hitting me hard.” Booze can hit you hard, weed can hit you hard, etc. However, things like news can also hit you hard, or the passing of a loved one; in this sense, it means to affect you emotionally. On the internet, you’ll often see (albeit facetiously) that something can “hit you (right) in the feels”.
Sounds like a quite good match. Danke!
Sounds like a quite good match. Danke!
US – strong effect, not only alcohol and understood anywhere: “Careful, that’ll f**k you up.” “Watch out now, that’s wicked.” “That’s kick-ass. You might want to take it easy.”