kriechen
German, verb
kriechen is spelled K-R-I-E-C-H-E-N (8 letters) and appears 2.8 times per million words in written German, the 18,843rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Kriechen is a German verb meaning “to creep; to crawl” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Kriechen is a different word: “creep (motion, deformation), gerund of kriechen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich mit dem Bauch am Boden/in Bodennähe fortbewegen”.
What does kriechen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to creep; to crawl
noun
- 1
neutercreep (motion, deformation), gerund of kriechen
noun
- 1
plural of Krieche
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich mit dem Bauch am Boden/in Bodennähe fortbewegen 2. sich sehr langsam bewegen 3. sich untertänig verhalten
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 kriechen
- kriecht present singular third-person
- kroch past
- gekrochen participle past
- kröche past subjunctive
- sein auxiliary
- 2 strong
- kriechend participle present
- krieche first-person indicative present
- kriechst indicative present second-person
- kriechest second-person singular subjunctive
- kriechet plural second-person subjunctive
- krochen first-person indicative plural
- kröchen first-person formal plural
- krochst indicative preterite second-person
- krocht indicative plural preterite
- kröchest formal rare second-person
- kröchst formal rare second-person
- kröchet formal plural rare
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to kriechen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is kriechen in German?
kriechen appears 2.8 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).