knistern
German, verb
knistern is spelled K-N-I-S-T-E-R-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 43,786th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Knistern is a German verb meaning “to sizzle; to crackle; to creak; chiefly referring to the sound of fire, or of paper, aluminium, etc., being crumpled” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Knistern is a different word: “crackle (The fizzing, popping sound of paper, fire etc.)”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “in hellen, hohen Tönen leise knacken”.
What does knistern mean in English?
verb
- 1
to sizzle; to crackle; to creak; chiefly referring to the sound of fire, or of paper, aluminium, etc., being crumpled
noun
- 1
neutercrackle (The fizzing, popping sound of paper, fire etc.)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. in hellen, hohen Tönen leise knacken
noun: 1. knisterndes Geräusch
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 knistern
- knistert present singular third-person
- knisterte past
- geknistert participle past
- haben auxiliary
- knisternd participle present
- knistre first-person indicative present
- knistere first-person indicative present
- knister first-person indicative present
- knisterst indicative present second-person
- knisterest second-person singular subjunctive
- knistrest second-person singular subjunctive
- knisteret plural second-person subjunctive
- knistret plural second-person subjunctive
- knisterten first-person indicative plural
- knistertest indicative preterite second-person
- knistertet indicative plural preterite
- knistere! imperative singular
- knister! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to knistern
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is knistern in German?
knistern 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).