handeln

From Middle High German handeln, from Old High German hantalōn, from Proto-West Germanic *handulōn.

• IPA^(key): /ˈhandəln/, [ˈhandl̩n]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: han‧deln

handeln (weak, third-person singular present handelt, past tense handelte, past participle gehandelt, auxiliary haben)

2. (intransitive) to act; to take action

   Jeder ist dafür verantwortlich, wie er handelt.

   Everybody is responsible for the way they act.

   Wir müssen handeln, bevor es zu spät ist.

   We must take action before it is too late.

3. (intransitive) to negotiate; to bargain; to haggle

   Da lass ich nicht mit mir handeln.

   I won’t bargain about this.

4. (intransitive) to trade in; to deal; to sell [with mit (+ dative)]

   Er handelt mit Teppichen. ― He trades in carpets.

5. (transitive, stock exchange and the like) to trade

   Eine Aktiengesellschaft ist eine Firma, die an der Börse gehandelt wird.

   A stock company is an enterprise that is traded in the stock market.

   • 2010, Der Spiegel‎^[1], number 46/2010, page 95:

     In Toronto werden mehr als 1400 Bergbaubetriebe gehandelt, jede Woche kommen im Schnitt drei Unternehmen hinzu.

     More than 1400 mining companies are traded in Toronto, three companies are added each week on average.

6. (transitive, figurative) to tip as; to take into consideration as being

   Er wird als der nächste Superstar gehandelt.

   He’s being tipped as the next superstar.

7. (intransitive, of a person, formal, literary) to discuss; to deal with; to write or speak about [with von]

   Der Autor handelt auf 32 Seiten von dieser Nebensächlichkeit.

   The author discusses this marginal issue in 32 pages.

8. (intransitive, with von, of a text, film, etc.) to be about; to deal with

   Das Buch handelt von Hasen. ― The book is about hares.

9. (impersonal, reflexive, idiomatic) to be, to be a case of, to be a matter of, to concern (often used to introduce the subject before giving it a name, or to indicate some uncertainty regarding exact amounts) (literally, “it itself has to do with ...”) [with um (+ accusative) ‘something’ and bei (+ dative) ‘with respect to something else’]

   Es handelt sich um ein Missverständnis.

   What we have is a misunderstanding.

   Bei diesen Tieren handelt es sich um Hasen.

   These animals here are hares.

   Es handelt sich um ein paar Tage, bis die Pakete ankommen werden.

   It will be a matter of days before the packages will arrive.

• dealen

Borrowed from English handle. Doublet of handeln (“to act; to deal”).

• händeln

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛnd(ə)ln/

handeln (weak, third-person singular present handelt, past tense handelte, past participle gehandelt, auxiliary haben)

2. (transitive, informal) to handle something; to control; to deal with in an organised fashion

   Synonyms: handhaben, bewältigen

   Wir müssen sehen, wie wir dieses Problem handeln.

   We must find a way of handling this problem.

• Rare in writing for confusability with etymology 1, but fairly common in speech, chiefly in business and media slang.
• The form händeln is sometimes used when quoting speech in writing.

• Handling

• “handeln” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “handeln” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “handeln” in OpenThesaurus.de
• “handeln” in Duden online
• “handeln” in Duden online
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) “handeln”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

handeln

1. definite singular of handel