neigen
German, verb
neigen is spelled N-E-I-G-E-N (6 letters) and appears 4.8 times per million words in written German, the 12,686th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Neigen is a German verb meaning “to incline, slant, tilt, bend, lower (move something in some direction by bowing or turning slightly)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Neigen is a different word: “plural of Neige”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “in Schräglage geraten; schräg werden”.
What does neigen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to incline, slant, tilt, bend, lower (move something in some direction by bowing or turning slightly)
Die Sträucher neigen ihre Zweige.
- 2
to incline, slant, lean, bow (intransitive use always requires an adverb of place)
Die Wand neigt sich.
- 3
to be inclined, to tend towards, to have a preference for
Ich neige zu dieser Lösung.
noun
- 1
feminineplural of Neige
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. in Schräglage geraten; schräg werden 2. in Schräglage versetzen; schräg machen 3. eine häufige Begebenheit sein 4. (Verhalten) eine Veranlagung zu etwas zeigen
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 neigen
- neigt present singular third-person
- neigte past
- geneigt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- neigend participle present
- neige first-person indicative present
- neigst indicative present second-person
- neigest second-person singular subjunctive
- neiget plural second-person subjunctive
- neigten first-person indicative plural
- neigtest indicative preterite second-person
- neigtet indicative plural preterite
- neig imperative second-person singular
- habe geneigt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben geneigt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- neig! imperative singular
- neige! imperative singular
- neigt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to neigen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is neigen in German?
neigen appears 4.8 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).