zupfen
German, verb/tsʊpfən/
zupfen is spelled Z-U-P-F-E-N (6 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 48,795th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zupfen is a German verb meaning “to pluck” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “ohne große Kraft an etwas in kleinen Rucken ziehen, meist mit den Fingern”.
What does zupfen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to pluck
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. ohne große Kraft an etwas in kleinen Rucken ziehen, meist mit den Fingern 2. ein Saiteninstrument mittels der Finger oder eines Plektrums mit einem kleinen Ruck in Schwingung versetzen und so zum Klingen bringen 3. etwas ruckartig ausreißen
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 zupfen
- zupft present singular third-person
- zupfte past
- gezupft participle past
- haben auxiliary
- zupfend participle present
- zupfe first-person indicative present
- zupfst indicative present second-person
- zupfest second-person singular subjunctive
- zupfet plural second-person subjunctive
- zupften first-person indicative plural
- zupftest indicative preterite second-person
- zupftet indicative plural preterite
- zupf imperative second-person singular
- habe gezupft first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gezupft first-person indicative multiword-construction
- zupfe! imperative singular
- zupft! imperative plural
- gezupft haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce zupfen?
- /tsʊpfən/
- [ˈt͡sʊp͡fn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to zupfen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is zupfen in German?
zupfen 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).