schweigen
German, verb
schweigen is spelled S-C-H-W-E-I-G-E-N (9 letters) and appears 27 times per million words in written German, the 3,035th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schweigen is a German verb meaning “to be silent; to keep quiet” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schweigen is a different word: “silence (the lack of any sound or the lack of spoken communication)”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “still sein oder nicht reden”.
What does schweigen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to be silent; to keep quiet
Wer schweigt, stimmt zu!
- 2
to stop talking; to shut up
noun
- 1
neutersilence (the lack of any sound or the lack of spoken communication)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. still sein oder nicht reden 2. ein Geheimnis bewahren
noun: 1. Zustand und (Unterlassungs-)Handlung, in dem keine Aussage getätigt wird (bzw. keine akustische Kommunikation stattfindet)
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 schweigen
- schweigt present singular third-person
- schwieg past
- geschwiegen participle past
- haben auxiliary
- 1 strong
- schweigend participle present
- schweige first-person indicative present
- schweigst indicative present second-person
- schweigest second-person singular subjunctive
- schweiget plural second-person subjunctive
- schwiegen first-person indicative plural
- schwiege first-person formal rare
- schwiegst indicative preterite second-person
- schwiegt indicative plural preterite
- schwiegest formal rare second-person
- schwieget formal plural rare
- schweig imperative second-person singular
- schweige! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schweigen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schweigen in German?
schweigen appears 27 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).