brütet

Brütet is the third-person singular present indicative form, and also the second-person plural form, of the German verb brüten. The infinitive brüten denotes the act of incubating eggs, especially by birds and other animals that keep eggs warm until hatching. In broader usage, brüten can also mean to brood or to develop something slowly and with effort.

The core sense centers on incubation, whether literal or metaphorical. In biology and agriculture, brüten describes hens and other birds sitting on eggs to maintain warmth for development. The term is also used for other animals that incubate eggs or nurture offspring. Figuratively, brüten can refer to mental preparation or anxiety, as in someone brütet über einer Frage oder brütet an einer Lösung, meaning to brood over a problem or to work on a solution with intense focus.

Conjugation and forms in modern German are standard; the perfect tense is formed with haben and the past participle gebrütet (er hat gebrütet die Eier, meaning he has incubated the eggs). The simple past is brütete. The noun form related to the activity is Brüten or die Brut, depending on context, with Bruten referring to a brood or offspring.

Etymology traces brüten to Germanic roots related to nurturing and warmth, with the word evolving to cover both literal incubation and extended meanings like careful planning or anxious contemplation. Brüten is used across standard German and appears in both everyday speech and literary contexts, though more specialized zoological writing may rely on explicit species terminology.