bangen
German, verb
bangen is spelled B-A-N-G-E-N (6 letters) and appears 2.1 times per million words in written German, the 23,467th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bangen is a German verb meaning “to fear, to be worried [with um (+ accusative) ‘for something’] (about something or someone being lost or endangered, especially of someone…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Bangen is a different word: “gerund of bangen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Angst und/oder Sorge um jemanden oder etwas empfinden”.
What does bangen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to fear, to be worried [with um (+ accusative) ‘for something’] (about something or someone being lost or endangered, especially of someone else)
Sie bangte um sein Leben.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of bangen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Angst und/oder Sorge um jemanden oder etwas empfinden 2. Furcht vor etwas haben 3. Sehnsucht nach jemandem oder etwas empfinden
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 bangen
- bangt present singular third-person
- bangte past
- gebangt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- bangend participle present
- bange first-person indicative present
- bangst indicative present second-person
- bangest second-person singular subjunctive
- banget plural second-person subjunctive
- bangten first-person indicative plural
- bangtest indicative preterite second-person
- bangtet indicative plural preterite
- bang imperative second-person singular
- habe gebangt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gebangt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- bange! imperative singular
- bangt! imperative plural
- gebangt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to bangen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bangen in German?
bangen appears 2.1 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).