rücken
German, verb
rücken is spelled R-Ü-C-K-E-N (6 letters) and appears 62 times per million words in written German, the 1,391st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Rücken is a German verb meaning “to move, to push” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Rücken is a different word: “back”. Without its umlaut, rucken is a different word: “to jerk, to move in forceful pushes”. On this page, Rucken is a different word: “dative plural of Ruck”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “die Position eines Gegenstandes verändern, ohne ihn hochzuheben”.
What does rücken mean in English?
verb
- 1
to move, to push
- 2
to move over
noun
- 1
masculineback
- 2
informalmasculineellipsis of Rückenschmerzen; back pain, especially chronic back pain
- 3
masculineellipsis of Buchrücken (“spine of a book”)
- 4
masculineshort for Rückenschwimmen
verb
- 1
to jerk, to move in forceful pushes
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Ruck
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. hintere Fläche des Oberkörpers 2. Rückenschwimmen 3. Buchrücken 4. langer Höhenzug
verb: 1. die Position eines Gegenstandes verändern, ohne ihn hochzuheben 2. seine eigene Position ändern 3. gefällte Bäume an einen befestigten Weg oder den Waldrand schleppen, um sie von dort abtransportieren zu können
verb: 1. eine plötzliche schnelle Bewegung (Ruck) machen 2. etwas mit kurzen, scharfen Bewegungen (Ruck) von der Stelle bewegen
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 rücken
- Rückens genitive
- rückt present singular third-person
- rückte past
- gerückt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- haben or sein auxiliary
- rückend participle present
- rücke first-person indicative present
- rückst indicative present second-person
- rückest second-person singular subjunctive
- rücket plural second-person subjunctive
- rückten first-person indicative plural
- rücktest indicative preterite second-person
- rücktet indicative plural preterite
- rück imperative second-person singular
- rücke! imperative singular
- rück! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to rücken
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is rücken in German?
rücken appears 62 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).