abgetaucht

Abgetaucht is a German term formed from the prefix ab- and the verb tauchen (to dive). It serves as the past participle of abtauchen and is used both literally and figuratively in everyday language.

In its literal sense, abgetaucht describes something or someone that has submerged beneath the water surface. It is commonly used in diving and nautical contexts. Examples include a diver going under water or a submarine submerging: Der Taucher ist abgetaucht; Das U-Boot ist abgetaucht. The opposite action is auftauchen, to surface.

In a figurative sense, abgetaucht refers to someone who has disappeared from public life or withdrawn from visible activity, often to avoid attention or obligations. This use conveys a sense of hiding or going underground, rather than a temporary absence. For example, Nach dem Skandal ist er abgetaucht. The expression is informal and widely understood in journalism and everyday speech.

Grammatically, abgetaucht functions as a participle used with forms of sein in the perfect and pluperfect tenses (er ist abgetaucht, er war abgetaucht). It can also describe a state, e.g., eine abgetauchte Person or merely serve as a predicative adjective.

Related terms include auftauchen (to surface) and untertauchen (to disappear or submerge). Abgetaucht thus spans both physical immersion and figurative withdrawal in German usage.