besitzen
German, verb
besitzen is spelled B-E-S-I-T-Z-E-N (8 letters) and appears 34 times per million words in written German, the 2,442nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Besitzen is a German verb meaning “to own, to possess” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Besitzen is a different word: “plural of Besitz”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas als Besitz oder Eigentum haben, über das man verfügen kann”.
What does besitzen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to own, to possess
- 2
to have
noun
- 1
masculineplural of Besitz
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas als Besitz oder Eigentum haben, über das man verfügen kann 2. die tatsächliche Sachherrschaft haben 3. etwas aufweisen, mit etwas ausgestattet sein 4. Kontrolle über jemanden ausüben
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 besitzen
- besitzt present singular third-person
- besaß past
- besessen participle past
- besäße past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 5 strong
- besitzend participle present
- besitze first-person indicative present
- besitzest second-person singular subjunctive
- besitzet plural second-person subjunctive
- besaßen first-person indicative plural
- besäßen first-person formal plural
- besaßest indicative preterite second-person
- besaßt indicative preterite second-person
- besäßest formal rare second-person
- besäßt formal rare second-person
- besäßet formal plural rare
- besitze! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to besitzen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is besitzen in German?
besitzen appears 34 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).