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schwänzen

German, verb

schwänzen is spelled S-C-H-W-Ä-N-Z-E-N (9 letters) and appears 2.0 times per million words in written German, the 23,884th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schwänzen is a German verb meaning “to skip (school, work, etc., without permission); to truant; to play hooky (US); to wag (British slang); to skive” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schwänzen is a different word: “gerund of schwänzen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Veranstaltung oder ein Treffen trotz Verpflichtung nicht besuchen”.

What does schwänzen mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    colloquialto skip (school, work, etc., without permission); to truant; to play hooky (US); to wag (British slang); to skive

noun

as Schwänzen
  1. 1

    neutergerund of schwänzen

noun

as Schwänzen
  1. 1

    masculinedative plural of Schwanz

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

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. eine Veranstaltung oder ein Treffen trotz Verpflichtung nicht besuchen

noun: 1. das nicht Besuchen trotz Verpflichtung

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 schwänzen

  • schwänzt present singular third-person
  • schwänzte past
  • geschwänzt participle past
  • haben auxiliary
  • schwänzend participle present
  • schwänze first-person indicative present
  • schwänzest second-person singular subjunctive
  • schwänzet plural second-person subjunctive
  • schwänzten first-person indicative plural
  • schwänztest indicative preterite second-person
  • schwänztet indicative plural preterite
  • schwänz imperative second-person singular
  • habe geschwänzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
  • haben geschwänzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
  • schwänze! imperative singular
  • schwänz! imperative singular
  • schwänzt! imperative plural
  • geschwänzt haben active infinitive perfect

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

English words that translate to schwänzen

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

How common is schwänzen in German?

schwänzen appears 2.0 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 schwänzen