abzielt

Abzielt is not a standard standalone term in German. In correct orthography, the third-person singular present tense of the separable verb abzielen is written as er zielt ab, not abzielt. The verb abzielen means to aim at, to target, or to direct toward a goal, and it is commonly used with a following object or with the phrase darauf abzielen.

In usage, German typically places the separable prefix at the end of the clause: Der Plan zielt darauf ab, die Emissionen zu senken. The form abzielt may appear as a misspelling or typographical error, since it mixes the prefix with the stem into a single word rather than keeping the standard two-word (zielt ab) or two- to three-word construction (zielt darauf ab).

The term is often described in grammar references as the nonstandard spelling of a separable-prefix verb’s finite form. Etymologically, abzielen combines ab- (away, off) with zielen (to aim), yielding the sense of directing attention or effort toward a target. In writing and editing, it is advisable to use the conventional forms to avoid ambiguity.

See also: abzielen, Ziel, Zielsetzung, German verb prefixes.