schmeicheln
German, verb
schmeicheln is spelled S-C-H-M-E-I-C-H-E-L-N (11 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 48,028th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schmeicheln is a German verb meaning “to flatter to an exaggerated degree” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schmeicheln is a different word: “gerund of schmeicheln”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “versuchen, jemandem zu gefallen oder jemanden zu beeinflussen, indem man Dinge sagt, die der Andere gern…”.
What does schmeicheln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to flatter to an exaggerated degree
noun
- 1
neutergerund of schmeicheln
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. versuchen, jemandem zu gefallen oder jemanden zu beeinflussen, indem man Dinge sagt, die der Andere gern hört, die aber nicht unbedingt der eigenen Meinung entsprechen.
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 schmeicheln
- schmeichelt present singular third-person
- schmeichelte past
- geschmeichelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- schmeichelnd participle present
- schmeichle first-person indicative present
- schmeichele first-person indicative present
- schmeichel first-person indicative present
- schmeichelst indicative present second-person
- schmeichelest second-person singular subjunctive
- schmeichlest second-person singular subjunctive
- schmeichelet plural second-person subjunctive
- schmeichlet plural second-person subjunctive
- schmeichelten first-person indicative plural
- schmeicheltest indicative preterite second-person
- schmeicheltet indicative plural preterite
- schmeichle! imperative singular
- schmeichelt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schmeicheln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schmeicheln in German?
schmeicheln appears about once in every 1 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).