eifern
German, verb
eifern is spelled E-I-F-E-R-N (6 letters) and appears about once in every 9 million words in written German, the 161,302nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Eifern is a German verb meaning “to strive” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Eifern is a different word: “gerund of eifern”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “für etwas voller Engagement, mit Leidenschaft (Eifer) eintreten”.
What does eifern mean in English?
verb
- 1
to strive
- 2
obsolete(with über) to be jealous of or zealous for.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of eifern
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. für etwas voller Engagement, mit Leidenschaft (Eifer) eintreten 2. nach etwas voller Engagement, mit Leidenschaft (Eifer) streben
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 eifern
- eifert present singular third-person
- eiferte past
- geeifert participle past
- haben auxiliary
- eifernd participle present
- eifre first-person indicative present
- eifere first-person indicative present
- eifer first-person indicative present
- eiferst indicative present second-person
- eiferest second-person singular subjunctive
- eifrest second-person singular subjunctive
- eiferet plural second-person subjunctive
- eifret plural second-person subjunctive
- eiferten first-person indicative plural
- eifertest indicative preterite second-person
- eifertet indicative plural preterite
- eifer! imperative singular
- eifre! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is eifern in German?
eifern appears about once in every 9 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).