German word

surfen

Pronunciation

IPA/ˈsœːɐ̯fn̩/

Meaning

  • verbbrowse the internet

Example

Im Zug surft sie oft im Internet.

She often browses the internet on the train.

Illustration for surfen (browse the internet)

More examples

Am Abend surft sie oft zur Entspannung im Internet.

In the evening, she often browses the internet to relax.

Core concept

Riding smoothly from one wave to the next, or from one web page to another.

Common phrases

  • im Internet surfen

    browse the internet

  • auf Webseiten surfen

    browse websites

  • auf dem Smartphone surfen

    browse the internet on a smartphone

Similar words

browsen: Casually looking through web pages without a specific goal.
googeln: Searching for information with the Google search engine.
scrollen: Moving up and down a screen to skim page content.
recherchieren: Gathering information carefully through detailed investigation.

Definition in German

im Internet frei und ungezwungen Inhalte betrachten, meist ohne gezielte Suche

Word origin

German surfen is borrowed from English surf, whose wave-riding sense was extended metaphorically to moving freely among web pages.

Usage tips

  • The verb is regular: its simple past is surfte and its perfect tense uses hat gesurft.

Other meanings

  • surfverb

Related words

  • der Surferweb surfernoun
  • die Surferinfemale web surfernoun
  • das Surfenweb browsingnoun

Word lists with this word