Bedeutungen

Bedeutungen is the plural form of Bedeutung, a German noun meaning meaning, significance, or signification. In everyday language it expresses what a word or sign stands for, and in academic contexts it refers more precisely to the content a sign denotes or represents within a system of signs.

In semantics, Bedeutung denotes the reference or denotation of an expression. For example, the word Hund has a Bedeutung equal to the class of all dogs—the extension of the term. Different expressions can have the same Bedeutung while differing in Sinn, use, or context.

In the philosophy of language, the Fregean distinction Sinn und Bedeutung is often invoked. Sinn is the mode of presentation of a term, while Bedeutung is its referent. The phrases Der Morgenstern and Der Abendstern have different Sinn but the same Bedeutung, both referring to the planet Venus.

Outside linguistics, Bedeutungen also describe cultural meanings and interpretations of signs in semiotics and anthropology. Meanings can be polysemous, context-dependent, and subject to change over time or across communities, reflecting how people understand symbols, words, and actions in social life.