schwindeln
German, verb
schwindeln is spelled S-C-H-W-I-N-D-E-L-N (10 letters) and appears about once in every 7 million words in written German, the 138,538th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schwindeln is a German verb meaning “to be dizzy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schwindeln is a different word: “gerund of schwindeln”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “die Unwahrheit sagen”.
What does schwindeln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to be dizzy
mir schwindelt (es)
- 2
to tell harmless lies
- 3
to make harmless trickeries
- 4
cheat, get somewhere or achieve something illegitimately
noun
- 1
neutergerund of schwindeln
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. die Unwahrheit sagen 2. vom Schwindel befallen werden
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 schwindeln
- schwindelt present singular third-person
- schwindelte past
- geschwindelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- schwindelnd participle present
- schwindle first-person indicative present
- schwindele first-person indicative present
- schwindel first-person indicative present
- schwindelst indicative present second-person
- schwindelest second-person singular subjunctive
- schwindlest second-person singular subjunctive
- schwindelet plural second-person subjunctive
- schwindlet plural second-person subjunctive
- schwindelten first-person indicative plural
- schwindeltest indicative preterite second-person
- schwindeltet indicative plural preterite
- schwindle! imperative singular
- schwindel! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schwindeln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schwindeln in German?
schwindeln appears about once in every 7 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).