driften
German, verb
driften is spelled D-R-I-F-T-E-N (7 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written German, the 54,418th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Driften is a German verb meaning “to drift” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Driften is a different word: “plural of Drift”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “auf dem Wasser treiben”.
What does driften mean in English?
verb
- 1
to drift
noun
- 1
femininerareplural of Drift
noun
- 1
neutergerund of driften
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. auf dem Wasser treiben 2. unmerklich in eine bestimmte, zumeist verpönte Situation oder Geisteshaltung geraten
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 driften
- driftet present singular third-person
- driftete past
- gedriftet participle past
- sein auxiliary
- driftend participle present
- drifte first-person indicative present
- driftest indicative present second-person
- drifteten first-person indicative plural
- driftetest indicative preterite second-person
- driftetet indicative plural preterite
- drift imperative second-person singular
- bin gedriftet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- sind gedriftet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- drifte! imperative singular
- driftet! imperative plural
- gedriftet sein active infinitive perfect
- gedriftet gewesen sein statal-passive infinitive perfect
- zu driften active extended infinitive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to driften
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is driften in German?
driften appears about once in every 2 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).