ringen
German, verb
ringen is spelled R-I-N-G-E-N (6 letters) and appears 10 times per million words in written German, the 7,028th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Ringen is a German verb meaning “to wrestle” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Ringen is a different word: “(olympic) wrestling”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “die Nahkampfsportart „Ringen“ ausführen; sich um etwas balgen”.
What does ringen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to wrestle
- 2
to struggle
- 3
to wring (for example “hands”; but not “clothes”, for that see wringen)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of ringen
- 2
neuter(olympic) wrestling
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Kampfsportart, die mit Griffen betrieben wird 2. heftiges Streben
verb: 1. die Nahkampfsportart „Ringen“ ausführen; sich um etwas balgen 2. sich sehr anstrengen etwas zu bekommen oder zu verwirklichen 3. mit sich selbst auseinandersetzen 4. die Hände drücken und verdrehen
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 ringen
- ringt present singular third-person
- rang past
- gerungen participle past
- ränge past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 3 strong
- ringend participle present
- ringe first-person indicative present
- ringst indicative present second-person
- ringest second-person singular subjunctive
- ringet plural second-person subjunctive
- rangen first-person indicative plural
- rängen first-person formal plural
- rangst indicative preterite second-person
- rangt indicative plural preterite
- rängest formal rare second-person
- rängst formal rare second-person
- ränget formal plural rare
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to ringen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is ringen in German?
ringen appears 10 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).