ersitzen
German, verb
ersitzen is spelled E-R-S-I-T-Z-E-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 93 million words in written German, the 610,218th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ersitzen is a German verb meaning “to acquire by usucaption or adverse possession” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Ersitzen is a different word: “gerund of ersitzen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “durch lange Ausübung des Besitzes einer Sache Eigentum erwerben”.
What does ersitzen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to acquire by usucaption or adverse possession
- 2
derogatoryto acquire by sitting around (e.g., in an office)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of ersitzen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. durch lange Ausübung des Besitzes einer Sache Eigentum erwerben 2. eine bessere berufliche Stellung oder ein höheres Amt durch langes und geduldiges Sitzen erlangen
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 ersitzen
- ersitzt present singular third-person
- ersaß past
- ersessen participle past
- ersäße past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 5 strong
- ersitzend participle present
- ersitze first-person indicative present
- ersitzest second-person singular subjunctive
- ersitzet plural second-person subjunctive
- ersaßen first-person indicative plural
- ersäßen first-person formal plural
- ersaßest indicative preterite second-person
- ersaßt indicative preterite second-person
- ersäßest formal rare second-person
- ersäßt formal rare second-person
- ersäßet formal plural rare
- ersitz! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is ersitzen in German?
ersitzen appears about once in every 93 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).