identifizierende

Identifizierende is the present participle form of the verb identifizieren and functions in German as an attributive adjective. It is used to form compounds such as identifizierende Merkmale or identifizierende Daten, which describe features or data that can be used to identify a person or object. The form itself does not designate a standalone concept; its meaning is derived from the noun it modifies.

In practice, identifizierende Merkmale are features that uniquely identify an individual or item. In forensics, such Merkmale may be physical traits like fingerprints, DNA profiles, iris patterns, or distinctive scars. In data protection and privacy contexts, identifizierende Merkmale are data points or combinations of data that can be used to identify a person, including names, addresses, biometrics, or other quasi-identifiers. The term is often discussed together with the broader notion of personally identifiable information (PII) and with the ways in which data protection laws address identifiability.

The term is typically found in legal, scientific, and professional writing, and it is common to see related phrases such as identifizierte Merkmale or identifizierbare Merkmale, depending on tense and grammatical context. Related concepts include Erkennungsmerkmale (recognition or identifying features) and biometrische Merkmale (biometric features), which are specific kinds of identifizierende Merkmale used for identification.

Grammatically, identifizierende is the -ierende participle form used as an adjective, and its ending changes to agree with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case.