schwerfälligen

Schwerfällig is a German adjective describing something that is slow, cumbersome, or ponderous due to its weight or lack of agility. It is often used for people, movements, or mechanisms that are not swift or deft, conveying a sense of heaviness rather than intentional slowness. In literary and everyday language it can carry a mildly negative nuance, highlighting difficulty or awkwardness rather than moral judgment.

The form schwerfälligen is the inflected form used before a plural noun in certain cases. For example, in nominative plural one says die schwerfälligen Bewegungen; in accusative plural die schwerfälligen Bewegungen; and in dative plural mit den schwerfälligen Bewegungen. The word can pair with a range of plural nouns such as Bewegungen (movements), Maschinen (machines), or Glieder (limbs).

Etymology-wise, schwerfällig derives from schwer (heavy) combined with fällig, suggesting weightiness or the tendency to fall or falter under weight. The compound has long been established in German to describe slow, awkward, or laborious action, and it appears in both descriptive and evaluative contexts across prose and dialogue.

See also

- Slow movement descriptors in German

- Descriptive adjectives for physical and mechanical properties

Overall, schwerfällig and its inflected forms like schwerfälligen provide a concise way to express sluggishness or cumbersome behavior or apparatus, with connotations of heaviness rather than deliberate inefficiency.