begehren
German, verb
begehren is spelled B-E-G-E-H-R-E-N (8 letters) and appears 2.8 times per million words in written German, the 18,843rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Begehren is a German verb meaning “to desire” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Begehren is a different word: “desire”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “nach jemandem oder etwas großes (sexuelles) Verlangen haben, jemanden oder etwas sehr gern haben wollen”.
What does begehren mean in English?
verb
- 1
to desire
- 2
to ask, to demand
noun
- 1
neutergerund of begehren
- 2
neuterdesire
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. nach jemandem oder etwas großes (sexuelles) Verlangen haben, jemanden oder etwas sehr gern haben wollen 2. etwas wollen, erstreben, herbeiwünschen; wünschen, etwas zu tun 3. etwas erbitten 4. betteln
noun: 1. ein heftiges Verlangen nach etwas oder jemandem 2. eine Anfrage, ein Ersuchen um etwas, das an jemanden gerichtet wird
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 begehren
- begehrt present singular third-person
- begehrte past
- haben auxiliary
- begehrend participle present
- begehre first-person indicative present
- begehrst indicative present second-person
- begehrest second-person singular subjunctive
- begehret plural second-person subjunctive
- begehrten first-person indicative plural
- begehrtest indicative preterite second-person
- begehrtet indicative plural preterite
- begehr imperative second-person singular
- habe begehrt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben begehrt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- begehre! imperative singular
- begehr! imperative singular
- begehrt! imperative plural
- begehrt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to begehren
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is begehren in German?
begehren appears 2.8 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).