anrufen
German, verb
anrufen is spelled A-N-R-U-F-E-N (7 letters) and appears 19 times per million words in written German, the 4,037th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Anrufen is a German verb meaning “to call, to ring (by telephone or similar technology)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Anrufen is a different word: “gerund of anrufen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “auf sich aufmerksam machen, indem man ruft; jemanden namentlich rufen”.
What does anrufen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to call, to ring (by telephone or similar technology)
Ich habe ihn gerade angerufen.
- 2
to call on (someone, e.g. a divine being); to appeal to; to call upon
noun
- 1
neutergerund of anrufen
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Anruf
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. auf sich aufmerksam machen, indem man ruft; jemanden namentlich rufen 2. jemanden bitten, sich als Helfer, Vermittler oder dergleichen entscheidend in etwas einzuschalten/auf etwas Einfluss zu nehmen 3. mit jemandem telefonisch in Verbindung treten 4. etwas durch (lautes) Rufen bekannt geben, mitteilen, verkünden
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 anrufen
- ruft an present singular third-person
- rief an past
- angerufen participle past
- haben auxiliary
- 7 strong
- anrufend participle present
- anzurufen infinitive infinitive-zu
- rufe an first-person indicative present
- rufen an first-person indicative plural
- rufst an indicative present second-person
- rufest an second-person singular subjunctive
- rufet an plural second-person subjunctive
- riefen an first-person indicative plural
- riefe an first-person formal rare
- riefst an indicative preterite second-person
- rieft an indicative plural preterite
- riefest an formal rare second-person
- riefet an formal plural rare
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to anrufen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is anrufen in German?
anrufen 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).