spitzen
German, verb
spitzen is spelled S-P-I-T-Z-E-N (7 letters) and appears 11 times per million words in written German, the 6,523rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Spitzen is a German verb meaning “to point (to make pointy), to sharpen (a pencil)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a strong genitive masculine/neuter singular of spitz. With a capital, Spitzen is a different word: “gerund of spitzen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas spitz machen”.
What does spitzen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to point (to make pointy), to sharpen (a pencil)
- 2
to perk up, prick up (one's ears)
Spitzt die Ohren!
- 3
to impatiently wait for something, to urgently await something
- 4
Austriato have one's eye on something (with the desire to obtain)
adjective
- 1
masculineneuterstrong genitive masculine/neuter singular
- 2
weak/mixed genitive/dative all-gender singular
- 3
masculinestrong/weak/mixed accusative masculine singular
- 4
strong dative plural
- 5
weak/mixed all-case plural
noun
- 1
neutergerund of spitzen
noun
- 1
plural of Spitze
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas spitz machen 2. etwas heimlich, versteckt, durch eine kleine Öffnung beobachten 3. erhoffen, ungeduldig erwarten, lauern 4. staunen
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 spitzen
- spitzt present singular third-person
- spitzte past
- gespitzt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- spitzend participle present
- spitze first-person indicative present
- spitzest second-person singular subjunctive
- spitzet plural second-person subjunctive
- spitzten first-person indicative plural
- spitztest indicative preterite second-person
- spitztet indicative plural preterite
- spitz imperative second-person singular
- habe gespitzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gespitzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- spitz! imperative singular
- spitze! imperative singular
- spitzt! imperative plural
- gespitzt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to spitzen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is spitzen in German?
spitzen appears 11 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).