peilen
German, verb/ˈpaɪlən/
peilen is spelled P-E-I-L-E-N (6 letters) and appears about once in every 3 million words in written German, the 72,255th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Peilen is a German verb meaning “to take a bearing of, determine the direction, position, or depth of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “die Richtung, Ausrichtung oder Position bestimmen”.
What does peilen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to take a bearing of, determine the direction, position, or depth of
- 2
colloquialto understand, grasp
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. die Richtung, Ausrichtung oder Position bestimmen 2. die Tiefe eines Gewässers bestimmen 3. übertragen, eine Situation oder einen Sachverhalt verstehen
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 peilen
- peilt present singular third-person
- peilte past
- gepeilt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- peilend participle present
- peile first-person indicative present
- peilst indicative present second-person
- peilest second-person singular subjunctive
- peilet plural second-person subjunctive
- peilten first-person indicative plural
- peiltest indicative preterite second-person
- peiltet indicative plural preterite
- peil imperative second-person singular
- habe gepeilt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gepeilt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- peil! imperative singular
- peile! imperative singular
- peilt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce peilen?
- /ˈpaɪlən/
- [ˈpaɪ̯lən]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is peilen in German?
peilen appears about once in every 3 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).