zanken
German, verb
zanken is spelled Z-A-N-K-E-N (6 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written German, the 67,080th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zanken is a German verb meaning “to bicker, fight” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Zanken is a different word: “gerund of zanken”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “meist mit jemandem einen Streit haben, sich streiten”.
What does zanken mean in English?
verb
- 1
to bicker, fight
Max und Lotte zankten sich darüber, wer oben im Hochbett schlafen durfte.
- 2
to scold
noun
- 1
neutergerund of zanken
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. meist mit jemandem einen Streit haben, sich streiten 2. mit jemandem schimpfen
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 zanken
- zankt present singular third-person
- zankte past
- gezankt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- zankend participle present
- zanke first-person indicative present
- zankst indicative present second-person
- zankest second-person singular subjunctive
- zanket plural second-person subjunctive
- zankten first-person indicative plural
- zanktest indicative preterite second-person
- zanktet indicative plural preterite
- zank imperative second-person singular
- habe gezankt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gezankt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- zank! imperative singular
- zanke! imperative singular
- zankt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is zanken in German?
zanken appears about once in every 2 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).