doktern
German, verb/ˈdɔktɐn/
doktern is spelled D-O-K-T-E-R-N (7 letters) and appears about once in every 55 million words in written German, the 452,179th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Doktern is a German verb meaning “to make dilettantish healing efforts, either privately or as a quacksalver” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Arztpraxis betreiben, als Arzt tätig sein”.
What does doktern mean in English?
verb
- 1
to make dilettantish healing efforts, either privately or as a quacksalver
Wenn ihr Mann krank ist, doktert sie gern mal auf eigene Faust.
- 2
to make dilettantish efforts to repair something
Es hat keinen Sinn, weiter ständig dran zu doktern, sondern das Gerät muss ausgetauscht werden.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. eine Arztpraxis betreiben, als Arzt tätig sein 2. Unterschiedlichstes ausprobieren, um sich/jemanden/etwas zu behandeln, zu heilen, wiederherzustellen 3. Arzneimittel ohne ärztliche Verordnung nach eigenem Gutdünken einnehmen
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 doktern
- doktert present singular third-person
- dokterte past
- gedoktert participle past
- haben auxiliary
- dokternd participle present
- doktre first-person indicative present
- doktere first-person indicative present
- dokter first-person indicative present
- dokterst indicative present second-person
- dokterest second-person singular subjunctive
- doktrest second-person singular subjunctive
- dokteret plural second-person subjunctive
- doktret plural second-person subjunctive
- dokterten first-person indicative plural
- doktertest indicative preterite second-person
- doktertet indicative plural preterite
- dokter! imperative singular
- doktere! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce doktern?
- /ˈdɔktɐn/
- [ˈdɔktɐn]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is doktern in German?
doktern appears about once in every 55 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).