kiebitzen
German, verb
kiebitzen is spelled K-I-E-B-I-T-Z-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 35 million words in written German, the 352,658th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Kiebitzen is a German verb meaning “to kibitz, to observe curiously, possibly giving unwanted comments, especially at a card game, but also work being done etc” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Kiebitzen is a different word: “dative plural of Kiebitz”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich als Beisteher, zumeist bei einem Brett- oder Kartenspiel, mit unerwünschten Ratschlägen einmischen”.
What does kiebitzen mean in English?
verb
- 1
colloquialto kibitz, to observe curiously, possibly giving unwanted comments, especially at a card game, but also work being done etc.
beim Schach kiebitzen
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Kiebitz
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich als Beisteher, zumeist bei einem Brett- oder Kartenspiel, mit unerwünschten Ratschlägen einmischen 2. jemanden oder etwas über eine gewisse Zeit überwachend betrachten
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 kiebitzen
- kiebitzt present singular third-person
- kiebitzte past
- gekiebitzt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- kiebitzend participle present
- kiebitze first-person indicative present
- kiebitzest second-person singular subjunctive
- kiebitzet plural second-person subjunctive
- kiebitzten first-person indicative plural
- kiebitztest indicative preterite second-person
- kiebitztet indicative plural preterite
- kiebitz imperative second-person singular
- habe gekiebitzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gekiebitzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- kiebitz! imperative singular
- kiebitze! imperative singular
- kiebitzt! imperative plural
- gekiebitzt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to kiebitzen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is kiebitzen in German?
kiebitzen appears about once in every 35 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).