spähen
German, verb
spähen is spelled S-P-Ä-H-E-N (6 letters) and appears about once in every 5 million words in written German, the 111,951st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Spähen is a German verb meaning “to peer, peek” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Spähen is a different word: “gerund of spähen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Ausschau halten; mit seinem Blick etwas suchen oder ein Gebiet sichern”.
What does spähen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to peer, peek
- 2
to spy
noun
- 1
neutergerund of spähen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Ausschau halten; mit seinem Blick etwas suchen oder ein Gebiet sichern
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 spähen
- späht present singular third-person
- spähte past
- gespäht participle past
- haben auxiliary
- spähend participle present
- spähe first-person indicative present
- spähst indicative present second-person
- spähest second-person singular subjunctive
- spähet plural second-person subjunctive
- spähten first-person indicative plural
- spähtest indicative preterite second-person
- spähtet indicative plural preterite
- späh imperative second-person singular
- habe gespäht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gespäht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- spähe! imperative singular
- späht! imperative plural
- gespäht haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to spähen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is spähen in German?
spähen appears about once in every 5 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).