anspannen
German, verb
anspannen is spelled A-N-S-P-A-N-N-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written German, the 69,095th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Anspannen is a German verb meaning “to harness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Anspannen is a different word: “gerund of anspannen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Zugtiere mit einem Fahrzeug oder Schlitten verbinden”.
What does anspannen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to harness
die Pferde anspannen
- 2
to tense, strain
die Muskeln anspannen
- 3
to get tense
die Lage spannte sich an
noun
- 1
neutergerund of anspannen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Zugtiere mit einem Fahrzeug oder Schlitten verbinden 2. durch Zug dehnen 3. in eine angestrengte Lage übergehen
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 anspannen
- spannt an present singular third-person
- spannte an past
- angespannt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- anspannend participle present
- anzuspannen infinitive infinitive-zu
- spanne an first-person indicative present
- spannen an first-person indicative plural
- spannst an indicative present second-person
- spannest an second-person singular subjunctive
- spannet an plural second-person subjunctive
- spannten an first-person indicative plural
- spanntest an indicative preterite second-person
- spanntet an indicative plural preterite
- spann an! imperative singular
- spanne an! imperative singular
- spannt an! imperative plural
- angespannt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is anspannen in German?
anspannen appears about once in every 2 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).