ertränken
German, verb
ertränken is spelled E-R-T-R-Ä-N-K-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 48,795th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ertränken is a German verb meaning “to drown” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person plural subjunctive II of ertrinken. Without its umlaut, ertranken is a different word: “first/third-person plural preterite of ertrinken”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemanden oder etwas töten, indem man die Atmungsorgane unter Wasser hält”.
What does ertränken mean in English?
verb
- 1
to drown
verb
- 1
first/third-person plural subjunctive II of ertrinken
verb
- 1
first/third-person plural preterite of ertrinken
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemanden oder etwas töten, indem man die Atmungsorgane unter Wasser hält
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 ertränken
- ertränkt present singular third-person
- ertränkte past
- haben auxiliary
- ertränkend participle present
- ertränke first-person indicative present
- ertränkst indicative present second-person
- ertränkest second-person singular subjunctive
- ertränket plural second-person subjunctive
- ertränkten first-person indicative plural
- ertränktest indicative preterite second-person
- ertränktet indicative plural preterite
- ertränk imperative second-person singular
- habe ertränkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben ertränkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- ertränke! imperative singular
- ertränkt! imperative plural
- ertränkt haben active infinitive perfect
- ertränkt werden processual-passive infinitive present
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to ertränken
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is ertränken in German?
ertränken appears about once in every 1 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).