kühlt

Kühlt is the third-person singular present indicative form of the German verb kühlen, which means to cool or chill, i.e., to lower the temperature of something. The verb is regular in its conjugation: ich kühle, du kühlst, er kühlt, wir kühlen, ihr kühlt, sie kühlen. The past participle is gekühlt, and the simple past is kühlte. It is commonly used with a direct object that is being cooled, but can also be used in intransitive phrases such as Es kühlt ab, meaning it is cooling down.

Usage and examples: In everyday language kühlen is used for both household and technical cooling. Der Kühlschrank kühlt die Lebensmittel means the refrigerator cools the food. Getränke kühlt man im Kühlschrank. In cooking one might say Kühl die Suppe ab, meaning to let the soup cool down. In meteorology or physics, Es kühlt ab describes a temperature drop. The related noun Kühlung denotes cooling as a process or a system, such as Luftkühlung (air cooling) or industrielle Kühlung (industrial cooling).

Etymology and related terms: The verb kühlen derives from older Germanic roots related to the concept of cooling and is cognate with English cool. It forms a common family with nouns such as Kühlung (cooling) and Kühlgerät (cooling device). Spelling uses the umlaut ü in the stem, a feature visible in other present-tense forms (kühlst, kühlt, kühl).