zweifeln
German, verb
zweifeln is spelled Z-W-E-I-F-E-L-N (8 letters) and appears 7.2 times per million words in written German, the 9,162nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zweifeln is a German verb meaning “to doubt, to be doubtful” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Zweifeln is a different word: “dative plural of Zweifel”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Zweifeln ausgesetzt sein, sich nicht recht entscheiden können und unsicher sein”.
What does zweifeln mean in English?
verb
- 1
to doubt, to be doubtful
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Zweifel
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Zweifeln ausgesetzt sein, sich nicht recht entscheiden können und unsicher sein 2. den Wahrheitsgehalt in Frage stellen; glauben oder vermuten, dass etwas nicht stimmt 3. die nötige Fähigkeit oder Aufrichtigkeit, Ehrlichkeit einer Person in Frage stellen
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 zweifeln
- zweifelt present singular third-person
- zweifelte past
- gezweifelt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- zweifelnd participle present
- zweifle first-person indicative present
- zweifele first-person indicative present
- zweifel first-person indicative present
- zweifelst indicative present second-person
- zweifelest second-person singular subjunctive
- zweiflest second-person singular subjunctive
- zweifelet plural second-person subjunctive
- zweiflet plural second-person subjunctive
- zweifelten first-person indicative plural
- zweifeltest indicative preterite second-person
- zweifeltet indicative plural preterite
- zweifle! imperative singular
- zweifelt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to zweifeln
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is zweifeln in German?
zweifeln appears 7.2 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).