schwingen
German, verb
schwingen is spelled S-C-H-W-I-N-G-E-N (9 letters) and appears 5.5 times per million words in written German, the 11,404th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schwingen is a German verb meaning “to swing (to move back and forth)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Schwingen is a different word: “a type of freestyle wrestling practiced in Switzerland”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich hin und her oder kreisend bewegen”.
What does schwingen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to swing (to move back and forth)
Sie schwingt auf einer Schaukel.
- 2
to move (somewhere) by swinging
- 3
to swing (to move something using a swinging motion)
- 4
to wave; to brandish
- 5
to vibrate
- 6
to oscillate
- 7
to resound
- 8
to propagate (somewhere) as sound, to move throughout (an area) resounding
der Klang der Glocken schwang durch die Stadt
noun
- 1
neutergerund of schwingen: vibration, oscillation
- 2
Switzerlandneutera type of freestyle wrestling practiced in Switzerland
noun
- 1
nominative/genitive/dative/accusative plural of Schwinge
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich hin und her oder kreisend bewegen 2. etwas hin und her oder kreisend bewegen 3. sich mit Schwung auf etwas setzen 4. etwas mit Schwung zu einem bestimmten Ziel befördern
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 schwingen
- schwingt present singular third-person
- schwang past
- geschwungen participle past
- schwänge past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- sein auxiliary
- 3 strong
- haben or sein auxiliary
- schwingend participle present
- schwinge first-person indicative present
- schwingst indicative present second-person
- schwingest second-person singular subjunctive
- schwinget plural second-person subjunctive
- schwangen first-person indicative plural
- schwängen first-person formal plural
- schwangst indicative preterite second-person
- schwangt indicative plural preterite
- schwängest formal rare second-person
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to schwingen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schwingen in German?
schwingen appears 5.5 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).