wirtschaften
German, verb
wirtschaften is spelled W-I-R-T-S-C-H-A-F-T-E-N (12 letters) and appears 3.1 times per million words in written German, the 17,543rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Wirtschaften is a German verb meaning “to keep house” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Wirtschaften is a different word: “plural of Wirtschaft”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “mit Mitteln, zum Beispiel Vorräten oder Geldern, (zielgerichtet und verantwortungsvoll) haushalten”.
What does wirtschaften mean in English?
verb
- 1
to keep house
- 2
to economize
noun
- 1
plural of Wirtschaft
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. mit Mitteln, zum Beispiel Vorräten oder Geldern, (zielgerichtet und verantwortungsvoll) haushalten 2. unter einer längeren Zeitspanne einer körperlichen Arbeit (im Haushalt) nachgehen
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 wirtschaften
- wirtschaftet present singular third-person
- wirtschaftete past
- gewirtschaftet participle past
- haben auxiliary
- wirtschaftend participle present
- wirtschafte first-person indicative present
- wirtschaftest indicative present second-person
- wirtschafteten first-person indicative plural
- wirtschaftetest indicative preterite second-person
- wirtschaftetet indicative plural preterite
- wirtschaft imperative second-person singular
- habe gewirtschaftet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gewirtschaftet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- wirtschaft! imperative singular
- wirtschafte! imperative singular
- wirtschaftet! imperative plural
- gewirtschaftet haben active infinitive perfect
- zu wirtschaften active extended infinitive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is wirtschaften in German?
wirtschaften appears 3.1 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).