schiffen
German, verb
schiffen is spelled S-C-H-I-F-F-E-N (8 letters) and appears 6.5 times per million words in written German, the 10,058th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schiffen is a German verb meaning “to sail, to go by ship” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schiffen is a different word: “dative plural of Schiff”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “mit dem Schiff fahren”.
What does schiffen mean in English?
verb
- 1
datedto sail, to go by ship
- 2
to transport by ship
Die Orangen aus Südafrika werden um die halbe Welt geschifft.
verb
- 1
colloquialto urinate
- 2
colloquialto rain heavily
noun
- 1
neuterdative plural of Schiff
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. mit dem Schiff fahren 2. urinieren 3. regnen
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 schiffen
- schifft present singular third-person
- schiffte past
- geschifft participle past
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- schiffend participle present
- schiffe first-person indicative present
- schiffst indicative present second-person
- schiffest second-person singular subjunctive
- schiffet plural second-person subjunctive
- schifften first-person indicative plural
- schifftest indicative preterite second-person
- schifftet indicative plural preterite
- schiff imperative second-person singular
- bin geschifft first-person indicative multiword-construction
- schiff! imperative singular
- schiffe! imperative singular
- schifft! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is schiffen in German?
schiffen appears 6.5 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).