Skip to main content
PlainSpell

schwanken

German, verb

schwanken is spelled S-C-H-W-A-N-K-E-N (9 letters) and appears 3.0 times per million words in written German, the 17,848th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schwanken is a German verb meaning “to fluctuate; to vary; to waver” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Schwänken is a different word: “dative plural of Schwank”. With a capital, Schwanken is a different word: “gerund of schwanken”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich nicht entscheiden können; sich mal so, mal so äußern oder verhalten”.

What does schwanken mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to fluctuate; to vary; to waver

  2. 2

    to shake; to rock; to sway

  3. 3

    to stagger

noun

as Schwänken
  1. 1

    masculinedative plural of Schwank

noun

as Schwanken
  1. 1

    neutergerund of schwanken

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. sich nicht entscheiden können; sich mal so, mal so äußern oder verhalten 2. unsicher stehen und gehen; den Schwerpunkt hin und her verlagern, dabei oftmals mit dem Oberkörper pendeln 3. sich ständig verändern

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 schwanken

  • schwankt present singular third-person
  • schwankte past
  • geschwankt participle past
  • haben auxiliary
  • sein auxiliary
  • haben or sein auxiliary
  • schwankend participle present
  • schwanke first-person indicative present
  • schwankst indicative present second-person
  • schwankest second-person singular subjunctive
  • schwanket plural second-person subjunctive
  • schwankten first-person indicative plural
  • schwanktest indicative preterite second-person
  • schwanktet indicative plural preterite
  • schwank imperative second-person singular
  • schwank! imperative singular
  • schwanke! imperative singular
  • schwankt! imperative plural

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to schwanken

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is schwanken in German?

schwanken appears 3.0 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).

What to look up after schwanken