schwelen
German, verb
schwelen is spelled S-C-H-W-E-L-E-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 12 million words in written German, the 187,243rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schwelen is a German verb meaning “to smoulder” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schwelen is a different word: “gerund of schwelen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “langsam, ohne Flamme verbrennen”.
What does schwelen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to smoulder
Das Feuer schwelte immer noch an einigen Stellen.
- 2
to fester, to simmer
Unter der Oberfläche schwelt Hass.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of schwelen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. langsam, ohne Flamme verbrennen 2. unsichtbar im Hintergrund/Untergrund vorhanden sein (und auf einen Ausbruch warten)
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 schwelen
- schwelt present singular third-person
- schwelte past
- geschwelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- schwelend participle present
- schwele first-person indicative present
- schwelst indicative present second-person
- schwelest second-person singular subjunctive
- schwelet plural second-person subjunctive
- schwelten first-person indicative plural
- schweltest indicative preterite second-person
- schweltet indicative plural preterite
- schwel imperative second-person singular
- habe geschwelt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben geschwelt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- schwele! imperative singular
- schwelt! imperative plural
- geschwelt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schwelen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schwelen in German?
schwelen appears about once in every 12 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).