chillen
/ˈtʃɪlən/
To say chill in German, use chillen, the verb borrowed from English. To call a person or a place chill, meaning calm and easygoing, people say chillig, gechillt or Locker.
chillen means to chill or to hang out, mostly among younger speakers. The slang adjective chillig describes something easygoing or with a relaxed vibe. gechillt, the past participle, describes a relaxed person or atmosphere. Locker describes a relaxed and easygoing attitude.
Meaning: calm, relaxed, easygoing (adj)
Which one should you use?
chillen and chillig are casual and youthful. Gelassenheit, serenity or calmness and Ruhe bewahren, to stay calm and composed, express a similar idea in more formal language.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
chillen is an informal loanword from English, used mainly by younger people and chillig is slang. Gelassenheit and Ruhe bewahren are formal.
How does it change in a sentence?
chillen is a regular verb. Its past participle is gechillt. In the command chill mal, the particle mal makes it sound more casual and less aggressive, like just chill.
How do you pronounce it?
chillen is pronounced /ˈtʃɪlən/, with the ch as in English chill.
Did you know?
- While chillen is youthful slang, the formal counterpart Gelassenheit is a core concept in German philosophy and psychology, often linked to stoic resilience.
- While chillen is a loanword, the word locker literally means 'loose'. It is used to describe a relaxed person in the same way English speakers might call someone 'laid-back'.
- The verb chillen was created by adding the standard German infinitive suffix -en to the English root 'chill'.
Examples in context
- Ich muss Leute finden, mit denen ich chillen kann.I need to find people to chill with.Here chillen means to hang out with people.Tatoeba #2723155 by Zaghawa, translation #2413893 by CK
- Chill mal!Chill!Chill mal! is a casual way to tell someone to relax.
- Er strahlt immer eine angenehme Gelassenheit ausHe always emits a pleasant serenity
- Komm vorbei und wir machen es uns auf der Couch gemütlich.Come over, and let's get comfy on the couch.
- Sei mal ein bisschen lockerer!Try to be a bit more relaxed!
- Lass uns einen entspannten Abend zusammen verbringenLet's spend a chill evening together
- Ich bin heute wirklich entspannt. Hast du Lust, etwas zusammen zu unternehmen?I'm really chill today. Do you feel like doing something together?
- In solch herausfordernden Situationen ist es wichtig, Ruhe zu bewahren.In such challenging situations, it is important to keep calm.
Example conversation
Sarah and Maximilian are planning their weekend.
- SarahWas machst du am Samstag?What are you doing on Saturday?
- MaximilianIch werde wahrscheinlich den ganzen Tag chillen.I'll probably just chill all day.
- SarahDas klingt nach einem guten Plan.That sounds like a good plan.
- MaximilianWillst du mit mir zusammen chillen?Do you want to chill with me?
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry chillen, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries chillen, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR, Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
