fassen
German, verb
fassen is spelled F-A-S-S-E-N (6 letters) and appears 26 times per million words in written German, the 3,122nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Fassen is a German verb meaning “to gird, to surround, to confine into a form” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Fassen is a different word: “gerund of fassen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas greifen und festhalten”.
What does fassen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to gird, to surround, to confine into a form
- 2
to grasp, to catch
- 3
to seize, to capture
- 4
to compose oneself (to calm, to free from agitation)
- 5
to accept, to believe (a misfortune)
Ich fasse es nicht, dass sie weg ist.
- 6
to express, put, formulate, define
noun
- 1
neutergerund of fassen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas greifen und festhalten 2. gefangen nehmen 3. mit einer Fassung versehen 4. die Fassung wiedergewinnen
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 fassen
- fasst present singular third-person
- fässt nonstandard present singular
- fasste past
- gefasst participle past
- haben auxiliary
- fassend participle present
- fasse first-person indicative present
- fassest second-person singular subjunctive
- fasset plural second-person subjunctive
- fassten first-person indicative plural
- fasstest indicative preterite second-person
- fasstet indicative plural preterite
- fass imperative second-person singular
- fass! imperative singular
- fasse! imperative singular
- fasst! imperative plural
- gefasst haben active infinitive perfect
- gefasst 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 fassen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is fassen in German?
fassen appears 26 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).