schwimmen
German, verb
schwimmen is spelled S-C-H-W-I-M-M-E-N (9 letters) and appears 24 times per million words in written German, the 3,371st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schwimmen is a German verb meaning “to swim (to use swimming motions to move in the water)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schwimmen is a different word: “gerund of schwimmen; swim, the act of swimming”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich im Wasser aus eigener Kraft (durch Bewegung der Extremitäten) fortbewegen”.
What does schwimmen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to swim (to use swimming motions to move in the water)
- 2
to swim (for pleasure, as a sport, etc.)
- 3
to swim (a certain distance)
- 4
to transport by floating
- 5
to float, to be floating
- 6
to float (somewhere), to move (somewhere) by floating
- 7
to be doused or covered in liquid
- 8
to be swimming in (money, etc.)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of schwimmen; swim, the act of swimming
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich im Wasser aus eigener Kraft (durch Bewegung der Extremitäten) fortbewegen 2. sich zum Vergnügen, zur sportlichen Betätigung oder dergleichen im Wasser fortbewegen 3. sich selbsttätig im Wasser irgendwohin bewegen 4. auf dem Wasserweg mithilfe eines Transportmittels irgendwohin bringen, schaffen
noun: 1. Sportart, bei der man sich ohne Hilfsmittel auf dem/im Wasser fortbewegt
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 schwimmen
- schwimmt present singular third-person
- schwamm past
- schwomm informal past
- geschwommen participle past
- schwämme past subjunctive
- schwömme past subjunctive
- sein auxiliary
- haben auxiliary
- 3 strong
- sein or haben auxiliary
- schwimmend participle present
- schwimme first-person indicative present
- schwimmst indicative present second-person
- schwimmest second-person singular subjunctive
- schwimmet plural second-person subjunctive
- schwammen first-person indicative plural
- schwommen first-person indicative informal
- schwämmen first-person formal plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schwimmen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schwimmen in German?
schwimmen appears 24 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).