stibitzen
German, verb/ʃtiˈbɪtsən/
stibitzen is spelled S-T-I-B-I-T-Z-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 7 million words in written German, the 136,587th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Stibitzen is a German verb meaning “to scrounge, to pilfer, to snatch (often something of little value)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas geschickt oder unbemerkt wegnehmen”.
What does stibitzen mean in English?
verb
- 1
informalto scrounge, to pilfer, to snatch (often something of little value)
Die Elster stibitzte sich ein Stück Brot vom Tisch, während keiner hinsah.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas geschickt oder unbemerkt wegnehmen
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 stibitzen
- stibitzt present singular third-person
- stibitzte past
- gestibitzt participle past uncommon
- haben auxiliary
- stibitzend participle present
- stibitze first-person indicative present
- stibitzest second-person singular subjunctive
- stibitzet plural second-person subjunctive
- stibitzten first-person indicative plural
- stibitztest indicative preterite second-person
- stibitztet indicative plural preterite
- stibitz imperative second-person singular
- habe stibitzt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- stibitz! imperative singular
- stibitze! imperative singular
- stibitzt! imperative plural
- stibitzt haben active infinitive perfect
- gestibitzt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce stibitzen?
- /ʃtiˈbɪtsən/
- [ʃtiˈbɪt͡sn̩]
- [ˈʃtiːbɪt͡sn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to stibitzen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is stibitzen in German?
stibitzen 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).