picken
German, verb
picken is spelled P-I-C-K-E-N (6 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 45,196th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Picken is a German verb meaning “to peck (of a bird)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Picken is a different word: “gerund of picken”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “mit dem Schnabel auf etwas einhacken, insbesondere Futterkörner”.
What does picken mean in English?
verb
- 1
to peck (of a bird)
Der Vogel hat schon wieder an die Fensterscheibe gepickt.
verb
- 1
to pick (to grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails)
Mit viel Mühe pickte er die letzte Olive aus dem Glas.
verb
- 1
Austriato glue, to stick [with auf (+ accusative) ‘onto’]
- 2
Austriato adhere, to stick [with auf (+ dative) ‘to’]
noun
- 1
neutergerund of picken
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. mit dem Schnabel auf etwas einhacken, insbesondere Futterkörner 2. etwas selektiv mit einem spitzen oder pinzettenartigen Gegenstand nehmen 3. kleben, anhaften
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 picken
- pickt present singular third-person
- pickte past
- gepickt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- pecken alternative
- pickend participle present
- picke first-person indicative present
- pickst indicative present second-person
- pickest second-person singular subjunctive
- picket plural second-person subjunctive
- pickten first-person indicative plural
- picktest indicative preterite second-person
- picktet indicative plural preterite
- pick imperative second-person singular
- habe gepickt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- picke! imperative singular
- pickt! imperative plural
- sein auxiliary perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to picken
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is picken in German?
picken appears about once in every 1 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).