herrschen
German, verb
herrschen is spelled H-E-R-R-S-C-H-E-N (9 letters) and appears 7.4 times per million words in written German, the 9,010th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Herrschen is a German verb meaning “to rule, to reign, to have dominion” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Herrschen is a different word: “gerund of herrschen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Macht über jemand oder etwas ausüben”.
What does herrschen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to rule, to reign, to have dominion
Der Kaiser herrschte über ein großes Reich.
- 2
to exist, to be going on (of noticeable large-scale conditions or sentiments)
Im Raum herrschte Totenstille.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of herrschen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Macht über jemand oder etwas ausüben 2. deutlich sichtbar, auffallend vorhanden 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 herrschen
- herrscht present singular third-person
- herrschte past
- geherrscht participle past
- haben auxiliary
- herrschend participle present
- herrsche first-person indicative present
- herrschst indicative present second-person
- herrschest second-person singular subjunctive
- herrschet plural second-person subjunctive
- herrschten first-person indicative plural
- herrschtest indicative preterite second-person
- herrschtet indicative plural preterite
- herrsch imperative second-person singular
- habe geherrscht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- herrsche! imperative singular
- herrsch! imperative singular
- herrscht! imperative plural
- geherrscht haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to herrschen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is herrschen in German?
herrschen appears 7.4 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).