Broad Vocabulary

“schneiden” – All its Prefix Versions

"schneiden" has a bunch of really useful prefix version, like "ausschneiden", "abschneiden", "Durchschnitt" and so on. Today, we'll learn them ALL!

Words we'll learn:

durchschneiden, anschneiden, abschneiden, beschneiden, ausschneiden, einschneiden, Abschnitt, Ausschnitt, Durchschnitt,...

By: Emanuel| 32 Comments | Updated: January 18, 2026

Hello everyone,

and welcome your German Word of the Day. And this time, we’ll do the second part of our look at schneiden. In the first part, we talked about schneiden itself and explored some related nouns like Schneide, schnitzen and of course der Schnitt.

And today, we shall get drunk on the well of usefulness, for today, we’ll talk about

The prefix versions of “schneiden”

And that of course includes all the prefix nouns like Aufschnitt, Abschnitt, Ausschnitt and so on.
I mean… the words from part one were okay, but these prefix versions… bro.. they’re like really next level. No cap.
You don’t really need to know part one to read this one today, but if you want to check it, you can find it here:

Word of the Day – “schneiden” 

And now let’s jump right in.

***

We left off in part one with der Schnitt in the sense of average. Here’s the groundbreaking example again:

  • Eine Stunde Arbeit dauert im Schnitt eine Stunde.
  • One hour of works takes on average an hour.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And the reason Schnitt has this meaning is our first prefix verb for today – durchschneiden.

“durchschneiden” and “Durchschnitt”

Taken literally, durchschneiden  means “to cut through” and in essence, it’s used for the idea of cutting some sort of cord in half. Like a cable or some ribbon on a construction site.

  • Ich habe aus Versehen dein Ladekabel durchgeschnitten.
  • I accidentally cut your charger cable in two.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

So it’s not very useful as a verb, but the noun der Durchschnitt is an absolute must-have, because der Durchschnitt means the average. And the “logic” behind the meaning probably comes from the actual symbol: Ø.
A line “cutting through” a circle. The “through-cut”. 

  • Einhörner essen im Durchschnitt 5 Feen pro Tag.
  • Unicorns eat on average five pixies per day.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And this is why (im) Schnitt can mean on average. It’s just a shortened version of im Durchschnitt.
I’d recommend sticking with Durchschnitt though, because Schnitt by itself doesn’t always work and you have to know when it’s idiomatic.

Anyway, here’s a couple of examples for Durchschnitt as part of compounds:

  • Was ist der Durchschnittsverdienst in Berlin?
  • What’s the average income in Berlin?
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Der Durchschnittsdeutsche trinkt 108 Liter Bier im Jahr.
  • The average German drinks 108 liters of beer per year.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And let’s not forget the adjective durchschnittlich, which can mean average in a sense of … well… actual average, but also in the sense of “quality”.

  • Die Gäste bleiben durchschnittlich 2 Stunden in dem Restaurant.
  • On average, the guests stay for two hours at the restaurant.
    (“im Durchschnitt” would mean the same here.)
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Die Suppe war ziemlich durchschnittlich.
  • The soup was rather average.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Das Einhorn findet sich überdurchschnittlich intelligent.
  • The unicorn thinks it has above average intelligence.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

All in all, a really useful word and definitely one to take home with you. Just remember the symbol:

Ø
der Durchschnitt (“the through cut”). 

All right.
Moving on.

“abschneiden” and “der Abschnitt”

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abschneiden is the German counterpart of to cut off and the two line up pretty well. The main use is cutting off a slice of something but you can also find it in a more figurative sense of cutting off access.

  • Thomas schneidet sich ein Stück vom Kuchen ab.
  • Thomas cuts off a piece of cake.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Im Winter ist das Dorf für zwei Monate von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten.
  • In Winter, the village is cut off from the rest of the world for two months.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

When we talk about abschneiden, we absolutely also MUST mention the expression sich (Dative) eine Scheibe abschneiden, simply because it is REALLY common.

  • Maria ist so fleißig, da kann man sich eine Scheibe abschneiden.
  • Maria is so diligent, you can take inspiration from her.
    (literally: “cut off a slice of her style”)
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And then, there’s one fairly common use for abschneiden that is not intuitive at all and that is the sense of doing in a competition.   Like… how you abschneiden means how your result was, pretty much.

  • Maria hat beim IQ-Test unglaublich gut abgeschnitten.
  • Maria did unbelievably well in the IQ test.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Der Sportler macht das Wetter für sein schlechtes Abschneiden verantwortlich.
  • The athlete is blaming the weather for his bad performance/result.
    (lit.: “holds the weather responsible for…”)
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

What’s the logic of this meaning? No idea, honestly. Maybe we could think of it as how much of 100% you can cut off for yourself. Or any other mental image that makes sense to you.
It’s not really a word you’ll need actively, unless you want to write some C1 stuff. It’s just good to keep it in the back of your mind for now.

And as far as the noun der Abschnitt goes, I’m not sure whether it’s “a keeper” or rather “a sleeper”. Its core meaning is section and its main uses are for a section of a book or movie and a section of some sort of road, path or journey.

  • Dieser Abschnitt des Buches war der langweiligste.
  • This part of the book was the most boring one.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Wegen Bauarbeiten ist dieser Streckenabschnitt gesperrt.
  • Because of construction work, this section of the line/track is closed/blocked.
    (Mainly for rail.)
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

Yeah… I guess if you love books it’s a good word to have but otherwise… passive pile :).

Anyway, on to the next one.

“ausschneiden” and “der Ausschnitt”

Once again, there are no surprises for the verb itself. ausschneiden looks like it could mean to cut out, and low and behold… it actually does mean to cut out.
We need a big, fat, red disclaimer though, because ausschneiden is pretty much ONLY about cutting out a piece of paper with the intent of KEEPING it.

  • Thomas schneidet den Gutschein aus der Zeitung aus.
  • Thomas cuts out the discount voucher from the newspaper.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

For most contexts where the cutting something out is done to remove it, we need the r-version rausschneiden.

  • Der Hautarzt hat den Leberfleck rausgeschnitten.
  • The dermatologist cut out the mole.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Die Szene mit Thomas schneidet Maria raus.
  • Maria cuts/edits out the scene with Thomas.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

So once again, I’d say that the noun der Ausschnitt is more useful here. And Ausschnitt is in essence a section of something, but while Abschnitt was about the section of a line, Ausschnitt is more general and so the translation can be part, clip excerpt and more, depending on the context.

  • “Hast du das Interview gesehen?”
    “Nein, nur Ausschnitte.”
  • “Have you watched the interview?”
    “No, only parts/clips/excepts.”
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Der Ausschnitt ist bei einem Foto genauso wichtig, wie das Motiv.
  • The frame/clipping of a foto is just as important as the scene/motif.
    (Ausschnitt here is the part of the scene that actually makes it into the picture frame. Not sure what’s idiomatic English for that.)
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And the other meaning of derAusschnitt is for the “neck opening” of a shirt or sweater or dress.

  • Thomas trägt gerne T-Shirt mit V-Ausschnitt.
  • Thomas likes to wear t-shirts with a v-neck.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Thomas guckt Maria in den Ausschnitt.
  • Thomas looks into Maria’s cleavage.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

Cool.

“aufschneiden” and “der Aufschnitt”

This is a pretty quick one to cover. aufschneiden simply means to cut open and that can be some fruit as well as a package or even a body part.

  • Maria schneidet die Avocado auf.
  • Maria cuts open the avocado.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And also the noun der Aufschnitt is connected to food, because it’s a generic, slightly formal sounding term for cold cuts, like ham, salami or all other kinds of wurst-stuff that you slice and put on bread.me personally, I always thought also cheese slices are part of it, but apparently they’re not. But yeah… if you look at hotel breakfast menus, you’ll most likely find some Aufschnitt there.

  • Auf dem Buffet gab es Brot, Marmelade, Ei und Aufschnitt.
  • At the buffet, there was bread, jam, egg and cold cuts.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

So is that it for aufschneiden?
Well, not really. aufschneiden has a secret side meaning and that is the sense of pretending to be cooler than you are. It’s super rare as a verb, but you might find the noun der Aufschneider.

  • Thomas ist ein Aufschneider.
  • Thomas is a faker/blow-hard.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

What’s the logic? Well, I think of it as someone “putting fat slices onto their bread” even though they actually don’t have any.
But that’s really only my visualization of it, not the official origin story.
Anyway… we’re all slowly getting tired, so let’s move on.

anschneiden

anschneiden as a verb has two meanings. The first one is very literal and it’s basically “giving something the first cut”. Think the turkey on Thanks Giving or a wedding cake.

  • Maria schneidet die Torte an.
  • Maria cuts the cake.
    (Only for the first cut)
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And the second meaning is kind of a figurative take on this, because you can also anschneiden a topic, and that basically means starting to talk about it.

  • Dieses Thema haben wir im letzten Meeting schon mal angeschnitten.
  • We already briefly touched on this topic in the last meeting.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

Is there a noun Anschnitt?
Well yes, but that’s starting to get so specific that it’s not even worth mentioning. Im Anschnitt is when something or someone is only halfway on a picture. Like a face that’s only half there for instance. And I think Anschnitt is also a technical term in print, but … I mean… if you need it, you’ll know it :).

All right.
Now, those were not all the prefix verbs of schneiden. There are quite a few more, but I don’t think they really all need a headline by themselves, so let’s just do a speedrun.

More Relatives – Speedrun

I’d love to play some Benny Hill music or something, but maybe that’s too distracting :). Anyway, here we go.
zerschneiden is first, and that’s pretty self explanatory, I think.

  • “Warum hast du deine Hose zerschnitten?”
    “Fashion, Mom. Verstehst du sowieso nicht.”
  • “Why did you cut up your pants?”
    “Fashion, mom. You wouldn’t get it.”
    (Several cuts, not just one)
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

Next up, we have beschneiden, which technically means “inflicting trimming on”. But in reality, you’ll find it in two contexts pretty much: curtailing freedoms and … circumcision.

  • Während der Corona-Pandemie wurden viele individuelle Freiheiten beschnitten.
  • During the corona pandemic, many individual liberties were curtailed.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • In Deutschland sind nicht so viele Männer beschnitten.
  • In Germany, not so many men are circumcised.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

All right.
Next up,  let’s do zuschneiden, which is basically about “cutting in preparation for a purpose”. or in simpler terms… cutting to measures.

  • Die Bretter kannst du dir im Baumarkt zuschneiden lassen.
  • You can have the board be cut to size at the home-improvement store.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  • Dieser Job ist perfekt auf mich zugeschnitten.
  • This job is tailor-made/cut to size for me.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

And then, last but not least, I want to mention the noun der Verschnitt, which is a pretty common word for “cheap imitation”.
Yup, you read that right.

  • Thomas sieht mit seinen neuen Haaren aus wie ein billiger Ryan-Gossling-Verschnitt.
  • With his new hair, Thomas looks like a cheap knock off of Ryan Gossling.
  • Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

The origin of this meaning is the verb verschneiden, which once was about cutting alcohol with some cheap shit.
Nowadays, the word for that is strecken but Verschnitt has stood the test of time.

Cool.
Now, there are definitely still a few prefix version out there, like einschneiden or zurückschneiden or überschneiden but none of them are particularly useful and I’m pretty sure you can infer all of them when you see them in context.
I’ll also add them to my dictionary soon, so you can always check them there, and of course you can ask me about them too.

And I think that’s it for today.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, just leave me a comment.
I hope you liked it and I’ll see you in the next one.

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“schneiden” – All its Prefix Versions - Key Questions

Durchschneiden literally means to cut through, like slicing a cable in two, so it's not so common. The noun der Durchschnitt on the other hand is super useful and means average. Think of the Ø symbol as a line cutting through a circle. Im Schnitt is a shortened version you might hear for 'on average' and there's also durchschnittlich for that sense.

Abschneiden is to cut off a piece or to cut someone or something off. There's also the very common idiom sich eine Scheibe abschneiden, which means to learn from someone or take inspiration. Weirdly, abschneiden also means how you perform in a test or competition. Der Abschnitt usually means a section or part, like a chapter of a book or a stretch of road.

Ausschneiden is mainly about cutting something out of paper with the intention of keeping it, like a coupon. If you're removing tissue or a scene from a film you usually say rausgeschnitten. Der Ausschnitt is more general and can mean a clip or excerpt, the framing of a photo, or the neckline of a shirt. It can even mean cleavage in informal contexts.

Aufschneiden literally means to cut open, like opening an avocado or a package. Der Aufschnitt is a common word for cold cuts at a breakfast buffet. There's also a slang meaning for aufschneiden or Aufschneider, which is someone who shows off or brags.

Anschneiden has two main uses. It can mean making the first cut, like cutting a cake or roast. It also means to start or briefly touch on a topic in conversation. Anschnitt exists but is pretty niche, mainly used for a half visible image or in printing.

Yep, a quick run through: zerschneiden is cutting something into pieces, beschneiden can mean curtailing freedoms or circumcision, zuschneiden is cutting to measure or saying something is tailor made, and Verschnitt is a common noun meaning a cheap imitation or knockoff. Most other forms you can usually guess from context.