malen

Malen is a term that appears in several Germanic languages with different meanings. In Dutch, malen is a verb meaning to grind or mill, especially grinding grain into flour. It is used in contexts such as milling with a mill or grinder. The process is referred to as het malen, and the past participle gemalen is used in perfect tenses, for example: Het graan is gemalen.

In German, malen means to paint or to draw with paint. It is a regular verb with forms such as ich male, du malst, er malt, wir malen, ihr malt, sie malen; the past participle is gemalt. The noun form referring to the act of painting is das Malen, while the art of painting more commonly takes the word Malerei. A simple sentence would be: Sie malt ein Porträt.

Beyond these uses, Malen can appear as a proper name in various contexts, including as a surname or in geographic or cultural references in some regions. It is not a common standalone English term, but its Dutch and German meanings are widely recognized in their respective languages. In cross-linguistic discussion, Malen illustrates how cognate spellings can diverge in meaning between related languages, underscoring the importance of context when interpreting the word.