verkniffen
German, adjective/fɛɐ̯ˈknɪfn̩/
verkniffen is spelled V-E-R-K-N-I-F-F-E-N (10 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written German, the 101,039th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Verkniffen is a German adjective meaning “pinched (of a face)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a past participle of verkneifen. The German Wiktionary defines it as “gewisse negative Empfindungen (Unzufriedenheit, Ärger oder Ähnliches) habend, die sich im Gesichtsausdruck…”.
What does verkniffen mean in English?
adjective
- 1
pinched (of a face)
verb
- 1
past participle of verkneifen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. gewisse negative Empfindungen (Unzufriedenheit, Ärger oder Ähnliches) habend, die sich im Gesichtsausdruck widerspiegeln
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 verkniffen
- verkniffener masculine nominative singular
- am verkniffensten superlative
- verkniffene feminine nominative singular
- verkniffenes neuter nominative singular
- verkniffenen genitive masculine singular
- verkniffenem dative masculine singular
- der verkniffene definite includes-article masculine
- die verkniffene definite feminine includes-article
- das verkniffene definite includes-article neuter
- die verkniffenen definite includes-article nominative
- des verkniffenen definite genitive includes-article
- der verkniffenen definite feminine genitive
- dem verkniffenen dative definite includes-article
- verkniffner comparative
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce verkniffen?
- /fɛɐ̯ˈknɪfn̩/
- [fɛɐ̯ˈknɪfn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is verkniffen in German?
verkniffen appears about once in every 4 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).