von.
from
Meaning & usage
from
Ich fahre von Köln nach Hamburg.
Ich hab’s von meiner Schwester gehört.
of, belonging to (often replacing genitive; see usage note below)
das Auto meines Vaters
das Auto von meinem Vater
by; denotes the agent in passive voice
Das Hotel wird von der Firma bezahlt.
about, of (a topic)
Er hat von seiner Jugend erzählt.
on, with (a resource)
Von welchem Geld soll ich als Arbeitsloser in Urlaub fahren?
Man kann nicht nur von Luft und Liebe leben.
Where this word comes from
From Middle High German von(e) (“from”), from Old High German fon(a), alongside rarer northern fan(a). It is uncertain whether the High German o-vocalism continues an original Proto-Germanic *funē, comparable with Sanskrit पुनः- (punaḥ-), or whether it is an atonic alteration of Proto-West Germanic *fanā. In the latter case, possibly from Proto-Germanic *afa + *ana (equivalent to German ab + an). Cognate with Old Dutch fan (modern van), Old Saxon fan(a) (Low German van), Old Frisian fon, fan, all “from”.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.