erliegen
German, verb
erliegen is spelled E-R-L-I-E-G-E-N (8 letters) and appears 2.6 times per million words in written German, the 20,214th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Erliegen is a German verb meaning “to succumb to; to lose out to; to yield to; to fail to withstand” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Erliegen is a different word: “gerund of erliegen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “an etwas sterben”.
What does erliegen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to succumb to; to lose out to; to yield to; to fail to withstand
Sie erlag nie einer Versuchung.
- 2
to be under
- 3
to die; to succumb to
Er erlag seinen Verletzungen.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of erliegen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. an etwas sterben 2. etwas oder jemandem nicht widerstehen können, von etwas/jemandem überwältigt werden 3. hinterlegt sein
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 erliegen
- erliegt present singular third-person
- erlag past
- erlegen participle past
- erläge past subjunctive
- sein auxiliary
- 5 strong
- erliegend participle present
- erliege first-person indicative present
- erliegst indicative present second-person
- erliegest second-person singular subjunctive
- erlieget plural second-person subjunctive
- erlagen first-person indicative plural
- erlägen first-person formal plural
- erlagst indicative preterite second-person
- erlagt indicative plural preterite
- erlägest formal rare second-person
- erlägst formal rare second-person
- erläget formal plural rare
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to erliegen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is erliegen in German?
erliegen appears 2.6 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).