schenken
German, verb
schenken is spelled S-C-H-E-N-K-E-N (8 letters) and appears 18 times per million words in written German, the 4,345th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schenken is a German verb meaning “to give as a present, to gift” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schenken is a different word: “plural of Schenke”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemandem etwas ohne Entgelt geben, das er behalten kann”.
What does schenken mean in English?
verb
- 1
to give as a present, to gift
[with accusative ‘something’ and dative ‘someone’]
- 2
to spare one(self) (something)
Joseph hätte sich die beschwerliche weite Reise gern geschenkt, doch er wagte es nicht, ungehorsam zu sein.
- 3
to pour from a vessel, to serve
Sie schenkte den Wein in zwei Gläser.
noun
- 1
plural of Schenke
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemandem etwas ohne Entgelt geben, das er behalten kann 2. jemandem etwas zuteilwerden lassen, jemandem etwas geben 3. jemandem etwas ersparen 4. ein Getränk ausschenken, anbieten
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 schenken
- schenkt present singular third-person
- schenkte past
- geschenkt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- schenkend participle present
- schenke first-person indicative present
- schenkst indicative present second-person
- schenkest second-person singular subjunctive
- schenket plural second-person subjunctive
- schenkten first-person indicative plural
- schenktest indicative preterite second-person
- schenktet indicative plural preterite
- schenk imperative second-person singular
- habe geschenkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben geschenkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- schenk! imperative singular
- schenke! imperative singular
- schenkt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schenken
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schenken in German?
schenken appears 18 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).