zappeln
German, verb
zappeln is spelled Z-A-P-P-E-L-N (7 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 48,795th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zappeln is a German verb meaning “to wriggle, to make fidgety movements (with the limbs and/or torso)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Zappeln is a different word: “gerund of zappeln”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich heftig und schnell hin und her bewegen”.
What does zappeln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to wriggle, to make fidgety movements (with the limbs and/or torso)
ein zappelndes Baby
noun
- 1
neutergerund of zappeln
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich heftig und schnell hin und her bewegen 2. bewegen (lassen) der Dämpfer beim Klavier, wenn man ihre Funktion durch kleine wackelnde Pedalbewegungen überprüft
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 zappeln
- zappelt present singular third-person
- zappelte past
- gezappelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- zappelnd participle present
- zapple first-person indicative present
- zappele first-person indicative present
- zappel first-person indicative present
- zappelst indicative present second-person
- zappelest second-person singular subjunctive
- zapplest second-person singular subjunctive
- zappelet plural second-person subjunctive
- zapplet plural second-person subjunctive
- zappelten first-person indicative plural
- zappeltest indicative preterite second-person
- zappeltet indicative plural preterite
- zappele! imperative singular
- zappel! imperative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to zappeln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is zappeln in German?
zappeln appears about once in every 1 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).