streifen
German, verb
streifen is a German verb meaning “[auxiliary haben] to brush, to graze, to stroke” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Streifen is a different word: “stripe”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemanden oder etwas leicht berühren”.
What does streifen mean in English?
verb
- 1
[auxiliary haben] to brush, to graze, to stroke
Zum Glück hat ihn der Schuss nur gestreift.
- 2
[auxiliary sein] to wander, to roam
Sie streifte stundenlang durch die Wälder.
noun
- 1
masculinestripe
- 2
masculinestrip
- 3
masculineband
- 4
colloquialmasculinefilm, flick
- 5
masculinestreak
- 6
masculinetape
- 7
masculinezone
noun
- 1
neutergerund of streifen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. ein langer, schmaler, farblich abgehobener Abschnitt von einer Fläche 2. ein langes, schmales Stück Land 3. ein langes, bandartiges Stück 4. ein Film
verb: 1. jemanden oder etwas leicht berühren 2. sich fortbewegen, ohne eine klare Richtung auf ein Ziel zu folgen
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of streifen
- Streifens genitive
- Streifchen diminutive neuter
- Streiflein diminutive neuter
- Streiferl diminutive neuter
- streift present singular third-person
- streifte past
- gestreift participle past
- haben auxiliary
- streifend participle present
- streife first-person indicative present
- streifst indicative present second-person
- streifest second-person singular subjunctive
- streifet plural second-person subjunctive
- streiften first-person indicative plural
- streiftest indicative preterite second-person
- streiftet indicative plural preterite
- Str. abbreviation
- streif! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to streifen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is streifen in German?
streifen appears 19 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).