Reisenden

Reisenden is a German noun form referring to people who travel, commonly rendered in English as “travelers.” The base noun is Reisende (plural Reisende), with Reisenden appearing in oblique cases, for example den Reisenden (dative plural) or der Reisenden (genitive plural). In everyday use, the nominative plural is usually Reisende, while Reisenden appears in phrases requiring a declined form.

The term encompasses a broad range of travelers, including tourists, business travelers, migrants, pilgrims, explorers, and students on study trips. It is used in travel writing, journalism, and general discourse to describe people who move from one place to another, regardless of motive or duration. Gender is specified by the singular forms: der Reisende (male traveler) and die Reisende (female traveler), while the plural die Reisenden covers all genders.

Etymology traces Reisenden to reisen (to travel) with the agent suffix -ende, which marks a person performing the action. The word thus functions as a generic descriptor for those who travel, without implying particular status or origin. In modern German, Reisende can refer to individual travelers or to groups of travelers in a neutral, descriptive sense. It is closely related to Reise (journey or trip) and to Reisen (travel as a concept).