Gewöhn

Gewöhn is not a common stand-alone word in contemporary German. It functions mainly as a bound morpheme or stem that appears in a family of related terms rather than as an independent lexeme.

In modern usage, the most familiar related forms are gewöhnlich, Gewohnheit, Gewöhnung, and the verb gewöhnen. Gewöhnlich means usual or customary, Gewohnheit refers to a habit or accustomed behavior, and Gewöhnung denotes habituation or becoming accustomed. The verb gewöhnen means to accustom someone or oneself to something.

Etymology and morphology: Gewöhn- is the common stem found in these related words. The adjective gewöhnlich is formed with the suffix -lich, yielding a meaning of “characterized by habit or being usual.” The noun Gewohnheit and the process noun Gewöhnung derive from the same root, connecting to the idea of habit, practice, or familiar use. Because of this shared origin, Gewöhn serves primarily as a root component rather than a standalone word in modern German.

Usage notes: Since gewöhn is not used independently in standard German today, it does not typically appear in everyday sentences by itself. For expressing concepts of habit or normality, prefer gewöhnlich, Gewohnheit, or Gewöhnung, depending on the precise meaning you want to convey, or use the verb gewöhnen to describe the act of becoming accustomed.

See also: gewöhnlich, Gewohnheit, Gewöhnung, gewöhnen.