unterfordern
German, verb
unterfordern is spelled U-N-T-E-R-F-O-R-D-E-R-N (12 letters) and appears about once in every 35 million words in written German, the 348,070th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Unterfordern is a German verb meaning “to underchallenge” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Unterfordern is a different word: “gerund of unterfordern”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemandem zu leichte Aufgaben stellen; zu geringe Anforderungen an jemanden stellen”.
What does unterfordern mean in English?
verb
- 1
to underchallenge
noun
- 1
neutergerund of unterfordern
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemandem zu leichte Aufgaben stellen; zu geringe Anforderungen an jemanden stellen
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 unterfordern
- unterfordert present singular third-person
- unterforderte past
- haben auxiliary
- unterfordernd participle present
- unterfordre first-person indicative present
- unterfordere first-person indicative present
- unterforder first-person indicative present
- unterforderst indicative present second-person
- unterforderest second-person singular subjunctive
- unterfordrest second-person singular subjunctive
- unterforderet plural second-person subjunctive
- unterfordret plural second-person subjunctive
- unterforderten first-person indicative plural
- unterfordertest indicative preterite second-person
- unterfordertet indicative plural preterite
- unterforder! imperative singular
- unterfordere! imperative singular
- unterfordert! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is unterfordern in German?
unterfordern appears about once in every 35 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).