Krank

Krank is a German adjective meaning ill or sick, used to describe a state of health or a temporary condition. It can refer to people, animals, or things that are unwell or not functioning properly. In sentences, it commonly appears in phrases such as Ich bin krank (I am sick) or Er ist krank und muss zu Hause bleiben.

The related noun form is Krankheit, meaning illness or sickness. Krankheits is used in compounds and inflected forms, for example Krankheitserklärung (illness declaration), Krankheitsverlauf (course of illness), and chronische Krankheit (chronic illness). The prefix and compound potential of krank is extensive in German, giving rise to terms such as Krankenhaus (hospital), Krankenschwester (nurse), Krankenkasse (sick fund/health insurance), and krankmelden (to report sick).

As a noun, Kranke can be used to refer to a person who is ill: der Kranke (the sick person, masculine) and die Kranke (the sick person, feminine); the plural die Kranken generally means “the sick” or “patients.” The verb forms krankschreiben (to sign off as sick/to write a sick note) and sich krankmelden (to call in sick) are common in medical and workplace contexts. Also, krankwerden means to become ill, and krankmachen can mean to cause someone to become ill.

In everyday usage, krank can be combined with adjectives and adverbs to describe severity or duration (erneut krank, länger krank). In colloquial speech, regional variations and slang may broaden its meaning to describe something as defective or problematic, though this is separate from standard medical usage. Krank remains a fundamental term for health states in German-speaking areas.