meist

Meist is a German adverb meaning "most often," "usually," or "generally." It is used to indicate frequency or a general tendency and is closely related to the alternative form meistens. In many contexts, meist conveys a slightly more formal or concise sense than the common spoken form meistens, though both are widely understood.

In use, meist typically appears in simple present statements about routine behavior or habitual states. Common examples are: Ich gehe meist früh ins Bett. Es regnet meist im Herbst. Meist replaces more explicit frequency expressions to keep the sentence compact. For emphasis or clarity, speakers may opt for häufig or oft, but meist remains a standard choice for "most often." The related form meistens is more commonly heard in everyday speech, with subtle nuance rather than a strict rule difference.

Meist can also occur in compound phrases and as a productive prefix in adjectives and participles. In this role, it signals the superlative sense of “most” rather than frequency. Examples include das meistverkaufte Buch (the best-selling book) and die meistgenutzte App (the most-used app). Such compounds are frequent in commerce, media, and technical writing, where concise expression of ranking or prevalence is needed.

As a word used primarily in German, meist may also appear as a surname or place name, though these uses are separate from the adverb’s ordinary grammatical function. The article above focuses on the frequency-based meaning and common linguistic behavior of meist in standard German.