werken
German, verb
werken is spelled W-E-R-K-E-N (6 letters) and appears 19 times per million words in written German, the 4,201st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Werken is a German verb meaning “to do handicraft, especially woodwork” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Werken is a different word: “handicraft(s)”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “mit den Händen arbeiten, handwerklich tätig sein, praktische Arbeit verrichten”.
What does werken mean in English?
verb
- 1
to do handicraft, especially woodwork
- 2
datedinformalto work manually
noun
- 1
neutergerund of werken
- 2
neuterhandicraft(s)
noun
- 1
dative plural of Werk
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Schulfach, das der Vermittlung praktischer Erfahrungen in handwerklichem Arbeiten dient
verb: 1. mit den Händen arbeiten, handwerklich tätig sein, praktische Arbeit verrichten
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 werken
- werkt present singular third-person
- werkte past
- gewerkt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- werkend participle present
- werke first-person indicative present
- werkst indicative present second-person
- werkest second-person singular subjunctive
- werket plural second-person subjunctive
- werkten first-person indicative plural
- werktest indicative preterite second-person
- werktet indicative plural preterite
- werk imperative second-person singular
- habe gewerkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gewerkt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- Werkens genitive singular
- werk! imperative singular
- werke! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is werken in German?
werken appears 19 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).