stärken
German, verb
stärken is spelled S-T-Ä-R-K-E-N (7 letters) and appears 47 times per million words in written German, the 1,815th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Stärken is a German verb meaning “to strengthen (to add to the power or effect of something)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Stärken is a different word: “plural of Stärke”. Without its umlaut, starken is a different word: “strong genitive masculine/neuter singular”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “stark, belastbar machen; kräftiger, leistungsfähiger machen”.
What does stärken mean in English?
verb
- 1
to strengthen (to add to the power or effect of something)
Das stärkt das Immunsystem!
- 2
to have a meal or drink (especially before, during or after a physically demanding task)
- 3
to starch (to treat a piece of clothing with starch to make it stiffer)
noun
- 1
plural of Stärke
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
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. stark, belastbar machen; kräftiger, leistungsfähiger machen 2. sich durch Speisen oder Trinken erfrischen 3. die Wirksamkeit erhöhen; etwas wirkungsvoller machen 4. mit Wäschestärke behandeln, steif machen
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 stärken
- stärkt present singular third-person
- stärkte past
- gestärkt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- stärkend participle present
- stärke first-person indicative present
- stärkst indicative present second-person
- stärkest second-person singular subjunctive
- stärket plural second-person subjunctive
- stärkten first-person indicative plural
- stärktest indicative preterite second-person
- stärktet indicative plural preterite
- stärk imperative second-person singular
- habe gestärkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gestärkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- stärke! imperative singular
- stärkt! imperative plural
- gestärkt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to stärken
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is stärken in German?
stärken appears 47 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).