schwafeln
German, verb
schwafeln is spelled S-C-H-W-A-F-E-L-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written German, the 92,701st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schwafeln is a German verb meaning “to waffle (to speak or write evasively or vaguely)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schwafeln is a different word: “gerund of schwafeln”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “wortreich, aber mit wenig Inhalt oder ohne Sachkenntnis etwas erzählen”.
What does schwafeln mean in English?
verb
- 1
derogatoryinformalto waffle (to speak or write evasively or vaguely)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of schwafeln
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. wortreich, aber mit wenig Inhalt oder ohne Sachkenntnis etwas erzählen
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 schwafeln
- schwafelt present singular third-person
- schwafelte past
- geschwafelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- schwafelnd participle present
- schwafle first-person indicative present
- schwafele first-person indicative present
- schwafel first-person indicative present
- schwafelst indicative present second-person
- schwafelest second-person singular subjunctive
- schwaflest second-person singular subjunctive
- schwafelet plural second-person subjunctive
- schwaflet plural second-person subjunctive
- schwafelten first-person indicative plural
- schwafeltest indicative preterite second-person
- schwafeltet indicative plural preterite
- schwafle! imperative singular
- schwafele! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schwafeln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schwafeln in German?
schwafeln appears about once in every 4 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).