abschweifen
German, verb
abschweifen is spelled A-B-S-C-H-W-E-I-F-E-N (11 letters) and appears about once in every 5 million words in written German, the 115,169th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Abschweifen is a German verb meaning “to digress” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Abschweifen is a different word: “gerund of abschweifen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “von einer Richtung abweichen, die Richtung ändern”.
What does abschweifen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to digress
Schweifen wir nicht vom Thema ab.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of abschweifen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. von einer Richtung abweichen, die Richtung ändern 2. gedanklich oder beim Sprechen das Thema ändern, (oft unbewusst) von einem Thema zum anderen abweichen
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 abschweifen
- schweift ab present singular third-person
- schweifte ab past
- abgeschweift participle past
- sein auxiliary
- abschweifend participle present
- abzuschweifen infinitive infinitive-zu
- schweife ab first-person indicative present
- schweifen ab first-person indicative plural
- schweifst ab indicative present second-person
- schweifest ab second-person singular subjunctive
- schweifet ab plural second-person subjunctive
- schweiften ab first-person indicative plural
- schweiftest ab indicative preterite second-person
- schweiftet ab indicative plural preterite
- schweif ab! imperative singular
- schweife ab! imperative singular
- schweift ab! imperative plural
- abgeschweift sein active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to abschweifen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is abschweifen in German?
abschweifen appears about once in every 5 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).