befangen
German, adjective/bəˈfaŋən/
befangen is spelled B-E-F-A-N-G-E-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 42,412th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Befangen is a German adjective meaning “biased, prejudiced” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “nicht mehr neutral, sondern jemandem verpflichtet”.
What does befangen mean in English?
verb
- 1
obsoleteto apprehend, to seize, to grasp, to conceive
- 2
obsoleteto encompass, to surround
adjective
- 1
biased, prejudiced
- 2
bashful, shy, self-conscious
- 3
caught up, stuck, trapped (in a mindset, of a person)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. nicht mehr neutral, sondern jemandem verpflichtet 2. gehemmt, unsicher, verlegen, verwirrt
verb: 1. umfangen, umwickeln 2. gefangennehmen 3. sich mit etwas befassen
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 befangen
- befängt present singular third-person
- befing past
- haben auxiliary
- 7 strong
- befangend participle present
- befange first-person indicative present
- befängst indicative present second-person
- befangt indicative plural present
- befangest second-person singular subjunctive
- befanget plural second-person subjunctive
- befingen first-person indicative plural
- befinge first-person formal rare
- befingst indicative preterite second-person
- befingt indicative plural preterite
- befingest formal rare second-person
- befinget formal plural rare
- befang imperative second-person singular
- befangener comparative
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce befangen?
- /bəˈfaŋən/
- [bəˈfaŋən]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to befangen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is befangen in German?
befangen appears about once in every 1 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).