stiften
German, verb
stiften is spelled S-T-I-F-T-E-N (7 letters) and appears 2.6 times per million words in written German, the 19,862nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Stiften is a German verb meaning “to found, to create (an organization or award, especially with a focus on financing)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Stiften is a different word: “dative plural of Stift”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Stiftung gründen und mit Geld oder anderen Werten ausstatten”.
What does stiften mean in English?
verb
- 1
to found, to create (an organization or award, especially with a focus on financing)
- 2
to sponsor, to fund (the construction or creation of something)
einen Lehrstuhl stiften
- 3
to donate (some amount of money or supplies to a cause)
- 4
to cause, to spread, to bring about (a reaction or sentiment, especially among a group of people)
Verwirrung stiften
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Stift
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. eine Stiftung gründen und mit Geld oder anderen Werten ausstatten 2. spenden 3. bewirken, einen bestimmten Zustand herstellen
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 stiften
- stiftet present singular third-person
- stiftete past
- gestiftet participle past
- haben auxiliary
- stiftend participle present
- stifte first-person indicative present
- stiftest indicative present second-person
- stifteten first-person indicative plural
- stiftetest indicative preterite second-person
- stiftetet indicative plural preterite
- stift imperative second-person singular
- habe gestiftet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gestiftet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- stifte! imperative singular
- stiftet! imperative plural
- gestiftet haben active infinitive perfect
- gestiftet werden processual-passive infinitive present
- gestiftet worden sein processual-passive infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to stiften
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is stiften in German?
stiften appears 2.6 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).