wichteln
German, verb
wichteln is spelled W-I-C-H-T-E-L-N (8 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written German, the 101,039th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Wichteln is a German verb meaning “to exchange secret Santa gifts” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Wichteln is a different word: “secret Santa”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich in der Vorweihnachtszeit gegenseitig etwas schenken, wobei die Geschenke per Los zugewiesen werden oder…”.
What does wichteln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to exchange secret Santa gifts
noun
- 1
neutergerund of wichteln
- 2
neutersecret Santa
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. vorweihnachtlicher Brauch, bei welchem durch zufällige Auswahl bestimmt wird, wer wem etwas schenkt
verb: 1. sich in der Vorweihnachtszeit gegenseitig etwas schenken, wobei die Geschenke per Los zugewiesen werden oder ein anderes System bestimmt, wer wen beschenken soll
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 wichteln
- Wichtelns genitive
- wichtelt present singular third-person
- wichtelte past
- gewichtelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- wichtelnd participle present
- wichtle first-person indicative present
- wichtele first-person indicative present
- wichtel first-person indicative present
- wichtelst indicative present second-person
- wichtelest second-person singular subjunctive
- wichtlest second-person singular subjunctive
- wichtelet plural second-person subjunctive
- wichtlet plural second-person subjunctive
- wichtelten first-person indicative plural
- wichteltest indicative preterite second-person
- wichteltet indicative plural preterite
- wichtele! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is wichteln in German?
wichteln 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).