pfuschen
German, verb/ˈpfʊʃən/
pfuschen is spelled P-F-U-S-C-H-E-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 5 million words in written German, the 110,302nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Pfuschen is a German verb meaning “to work unprofessionally; to botch” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “unprofessionell arbeiten”.
What does pfuschen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to work unprofessionally; to botch
Die Handwerker haben beim Bau gepfuscht.
- 2
to cheat; to avoid or break the rules (e.g. in school)
Der Peter hat bei der Mathearbeit gepfuscht.
- 3
AustriaTo carry out undeclared work, to moonlight
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. unprofessionell arbeiten 2. ohne Bezahlung von Steuern und Sozialabgaben arbeiten 3. in betrügerischer Absicht die Regeln umgehen (zum Beispiel in der Schule, beim Spiel)
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 pfuschen
- pfuscht present singular third-person
- pfuschte past
- gepfuscht participle past
- haben auxiliary
- pfuschend participle present
- pfusche first-person indicative present
- pfuschst indicative present second-person
- pfuschest second-person singular subjunctive
- pfuschet plural second-person subjunctive
- pfuschten first-person indicative plural
- pfuschtest indicative preterite second-person
- pfuschtet indicative plural preterite
- pfusch imperative second-person singular
- habe gepfuscht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- pfusch! imperative singular
- pfusche! imperative singular
- pfuscht! imperative plural
- gepfuscht haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce pfuschen?
- standard /ˈpfʊʃən/
- /ˈfʊʃən/
- [ˈp͡fʊʃn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is pfuschen in German?
pfuschen appears about once in every 5 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).