bekennen
German, verb
bekennen is spelled B-E-K-E-N-N-E-N (8 letters) and appears 4.8 times per million words in written German, the 12,686th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bekennen is a German verb meaning “to confess, to avow, to profess (a belief, feeling, guilt, adherence to something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Bekennen is a different word: “gerund of bekennen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas offen zugeben; etwas öffentlich sagen”.
What does bekennen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to confess, to avow, to profess (a belief, feeling, guilt, adherence to something)
seine Liebe bekennen
- 2
to pledge oneself (to), to commit (to), to declare one's affiliation (with), to take a stand (on)
sich zu einer Religion bekennen
- 3
to claim responsibility (for)
Die Terrororganisation bekannte sich zu dem Anschlag.
- 4
to plead
Der Beklagte bekannte sich schuldig.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of bekennen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas offen zugeben; etwas öffentlich sagen 2. offen zugeben; öffentlich sagen 3. offen bekunden, welcher Religion man angehört 4. eine Zugehörigkeit oder Vorliebe zu etwas erklären
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 bekennen
- bekennt present singular third-person
- bekannte past
- bekannt participle past
- bekennte past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- bekennend participle present
- bekenne first-person indicative present
- bekennst indicative present second-person
- bekennest second-person singular subjunctive
- bekennet plural second-person subjunctive
- bekannten first-person indicative plural
- bekennten first-person formal plural
- bekanntest indicative preterite second-person
- bekanntet indicative plural preterite
- bekenntest formal rare second-person
- bekenntet formal plural rare
- bekenn imperative second-person singular
- habe bekannt first-person indicative multiword-construction
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to bekennen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bekennen in German?
bekennen appears 4.8 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).