German

Alternative forms

• heissen (Switzerland, Liechtenstein)
• heyßen (obsolete)

Verb

heißen ‎(class 7 strong, third-person singular simple present heißt, past tense hieß, past participle geheißen, past subjunctive hieße, auxiliary haben)

1. (intransitive) to have a name; to be named; to be called; but implying that one “owns” this name, not necessarily that one goes by it

   Wie heißt du?‎

   What is your name?

   Ich heiße ...‎ ― I’m called ...

   Ich werde Lutz genannt, aber ich heiße Ludger.‎

   They call me Lutz, but my name is Ludger.

2. (transitive, dated except in fixed expressions) to call (someone something)

   Ich heiße Sie herzlich willkommen!‎

   (literally) I call you cordially welcome!

3. (intransitive) to mean

   Wie heißt „Auto“ auf Englisch?‎

   How do you say ‘Auto’ in English?

4. (impersonal) to say, to be said; to go, run (like)

   Es heißt, dass ...‎ ― It is said that ...; They say that ...

5. (transitive) to direct, call to do something

   Sie hieß ihn, nach der Schule anzurufen.‎

   She told him to call after school

Conjugation

Derived terms

• anheißen
• das heißt
• gutheißen
• verheißen

Etymology 2

Adjective

heißen

1. inflection of heiß:
   1. strong masculine genitive and accusative
   2. strong neuter genitive
   3. strong plural dative
   4. weak and mixed masculine genitive and dative and accusative
   5. weak and mixed feminine genitive and dative
   6. weak and mixed neuter genitive and dative
   7. weak and mixed plural nominative and genitive and dative and accusative