schmarotzen
German, verb[ʃmaˈʁɔt͡sn̩]
schmarotzen is spelled S-C-H-M-A-R-O-T-Z-E-N (11 letters) and appears about once in every 8 million words in written German, the 144,446th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schmarotzen is a German verb meaning “to sponge, to freeload” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “aus Faulheit vom Geld, von der Arbeit anderer leben”.
What does schmarotzen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to sponge, to freeload
- 2
to parasitize
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. aus Faulheit vom Geld, von der Arbeit anderer leben 2. (als Organismus) auf oder in anderen Pflanzen oder Tieren leben und so seine Nahrung (zum einseitigen Nutzen) auf deren Kosten gewinnen
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 schmarotzen
- schmarotzt present singular third-person
- schmarotzte past
- haben auxiliary
- schmarotzend participle present
- schmarotze first-person indicative present
- schmarotzest second-person singular subjunctive
- schmarotzet plural second-person subjunctive
- schmarotzten first-person indicative plural
- schmarotztest indicative preterite second-person
- schmarotztet indicative plural preterite
- schmarotz imperative second-person singular
- habe schmarotzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben schmarotzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- schmarotze! imperative singular
- schmarotzt! imperative plural
- schmarotzt haben active infinitive perfect
- zu schmarotzen active extended infinitive
- schmarotzt zu haben active extended infinitive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce schmarotzen?
- [ʃmaˈʁɔt͡sn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to schmarotzen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schmarotzen in German?
schmarotzen appears about once in every 8 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).