klüngeln
German, verb/ˈklʏŋəln/
klüngeln is spelled K-L-Ü-N-G-E-L-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 52 million words in written German, the 440,316th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Klüngeln is a German verb meaning “to be slow; to delay; to dawdle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas langsamer als nötig tun”.
What does klüngeln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to be slow; to delay; to dawdle
Jetzt klüngel nicht so! Wir kommen schon wieder zu spät.
- 2
to chat, chatter (often in confidence, or seemingly so)
Ihr beiden sitzt da den ganzen Tag und klüngelt wie kleine Mädchen.
- 3
to engage in nepotism and corruption
Geklüngelt wird ja überall.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas langsamer als nötig tun 2. innerhalb einer relativ kleinen Gruppe gegenseitig Vorteile verschaffen
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 klüngeln
- klüngelt present singular third-person
- klüngelte past
- geklüngelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- klüngelnd participle present
- klüngle first-person indicative present
- klüngele first-person indicative present
- klüngel first-person indicative present
- klüngelst indicative present second-person
- klüngelest second-person singular subjunctive
- klünglest second-person singular subjunctive
- klüngelet plural second-person subjunctive
- klünglet plural second-person subjunctive
- klüngelten first-person indicative plural
- klüngeltest indicative preterite second-person
- klüngeltet indicative plural preterite
- klüngle! imperative singular
- klüngele! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce klüngeln?
- /ˈklʏŋəln/
- [ˈklʏŋl̩n]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to klüngeln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is klüngeln in German?
klüngeln appears about once in every 52 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).