abbauen

Abbauen is a German verb with several related meanings that share the core idea of removing, reducing or breaking down. It is a separable-prefix verb; in the present tense the prefix separates, as in “Der Bergbau baut Rohstoffe ab” or “Wir bauen Personal ab.” The past participle is abgebaut.

One sense is physical dismantling: to take apart or dismantle a structure or object. Examples include “ein Gebäude abbauen,” “eine Brücke abbauen” or “eine Maschine abbauen.”

A second sense is to reduce or cut back something: to decrease or phase out. This is common in economics and labor contexts, e.g., “Personal abbauen” (to lay off staff), “Ausgaben abbauen,” or the everyday “Stress abbauen” (to relieve stress).

A third sense covers extraction or depletion of resources: to mine or remove resources from the ground, as in “Rohstoffe abbauen” or “Bodenschätze abbauen.”

In biology and chemistry, abbauen also means to break down or metabolize substances: “Der Körper baut Proteine ab,” “Stoffwechselabbau.” Here the focus is on decomposition within a system rather than removing a tangible object.

Related noun forms include Abbau, which designates the process itself, such as “der Abbau von Rohstoffen” or “biologischer Abbau.” The term is widely used across technical, economic and scientific contexts, with its meaning determined by context and collocations.