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kranken

German, verb

kranken is spelled K-R-A-N-K-E-N (7 letters) and appears 13 times per million words in written German, the 5,473rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Kranken is a German verb meaning “to be ailing (from), to be held back (by), to be suffering (from) [with an (+ dative)] (to struggle with a non-catastrophic but severely…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a strong genitive masculine/neuter singular of krank. With an umlaut, kränken is a different word: “to insult, offend”. With a capital, Kranken is a different word: “genitive singular of Kranker”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “über einen längeren Zeitraum hinweg gesundheitlich beeinträchtigt sein”.

What does kranken mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to be ailing (from), to be held back (by), to be suffering (from) [with an (+ dative)] (to struggle with a non-catastrophic but severely limiting issue)

    Das Projekt krankt daran, dass es von einer einseitigen Sichtweise geplant wurde.

adjective

  1. 1

    masculineneuterstrong genitive masculine/neuter singular

  2. 2

    weak/mixed genitive/dative all-gender singular

  3. 3

    masculinestrong/weak/mixed accusative masculine singular

  4. 4

    strong dative plural

  5. 5

    weak/mixed all-case plural

verb

as kränken
  1. 1

    to insult, offend

  2. 2

    to hurt someone's feelings

  3. 3

    to wound (psychologically), belittle

  4. 4

    to slight, detract from

noun

as Kranken
  1. 1

    genitive singular of Kranker

  2. 2

    plural of Kranker

  3. 3

    plural of Kranke

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. über einen längeren Zeitraum hinweg gesundheitlich beeinträchtigt sein 2. aufgrund eines bestimmten Umstandes in seiner Funktionsfähigkeit oder etwas Ähnlichem beeinträchtigt sein 3. krank werden

verb: 1. jemandes Gefühle verletzen 2. verletzt 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 kranken

  • kränkt present singular third-person
  • kränkte past
  • gekränkt participle past
  • haben auxiliary
  • kränkend participle present
  • kränke first-person indicative present
  • kränkst indicative present second-person
  • kränkest second-person singular subjunctive
  • kränket plural second-person subjunctive
  • kränkten first-person indicative plural
  • kränktest indicative preterite second-person
  • kränktet indicative plural preterite
  • kränk imperative second-person singular
  • habe gekränkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
  • haben gekränkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
  • kranke present
  • krankst present
  • krankt present

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to kranken

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is kranken in German?

kranken appears 13 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).

What to look up after kranken