krabbeln
German, verb/ˈkʁabəln/
krabbeln is spelled K-R-A-B-B-E-L-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 41,097th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Krabbeln is a German verb meaning “to crawl (typically, but not always, of a baby or insect)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich auf Händen und Knien fortbewegen”.
What does krabbeln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to crawl (typically, but not always, of a baby or insect)
- 2
to tickle, especially by making fast movements with all fingers of one hand
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich auf Händen und Knien fortbewegen 2. sich fortbewegen mit vielen Beinen, die schnell hintereinander auf den Untergrund treten 3. jemanden mit schnell bewegten Fingerspitzen berühren, so dass er lachen muss 4. ein unangenehm kratzendes oder erschauderndes Gefühl (auf der Haut) erzeugen oder haben
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 krabbeln
- krabbelt present singular third-person
- krabbelte past
- gekrabbelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- haben or sein auxiliary
- krabbelnd participle present
- krabble first-person indicative present
- krabbele first-person indicative present
- krabbel first-person indicative present
- krabbelst indicative present second-person
- krabbelest second-person singular subjunctive
- krabblest second-person singular subjunctive
- krabbelet plural second-person subjunctive
- krabblet plural second-person subjunctive
- krabbelten first-person indicative plural
- krabbeltest indicative preterite second-person
- krabbeltet indicative plural preterite
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce krabbeln?
- /ˈkʁabəln/
- [ˈkʁabəln]
- [ˈkʁabl̩n]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to krabbeln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is krabbeln in German?
krabbeln 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).