wiegen

Wiegen is a German verb with two primary meanings. In the sense of weight, wiegen means to determine or measure weight, as in Ich wiege 68 Kilogramm. In the sense of rocking or comforting, es bedeutet to cradle or lull someone, especially a baby, for example Die Mutter wiegt das Kind sanft in den Schlaf. The verb can also be used reflexively to indicate weighing oneself, as in Ich wiege mich regelmäßig.

Inflection and usage. In the present tense the forms are: ich wiege, du wiegst, er wiegt, wir wiegen, ihr wiegt, sie wiegen. The simple past forms are wog and wogen, and the past participle is gewogen. When used in the weight sense, the verb takes a direct object that denotes what is weighed (e.g., Das Kind wiegt 15 Kilogramm). When used in the cradle sense, the direct object is the person or object being rocked (e.g., Die Mutter wiegt das Baby).

Noun sense. Die Wiege (plural Die Wiegen) is a feminine noun meaning cradle or crib. It can appear in literal contexts—“in die Wiege legen” or “die Wiege des Kindes”—as well as in metaphorical phrases such as “die Wiege der Menschheit,” meaning the cradle of humanity. The word is also tied to lullabies, with Wiegenlied meaning lullaby or cradle song.

See also. The term commonly appears in cultural and literary contexts relating to infancy, birth, and origin stories. The related concept Waage refers to scales or balances, a different word despite the close semantic field.