locken

to curl hair

verb LOK-ken Rare

Also means

to lure, entice

Usage Note

Locken as a hair-care verb means to create curls — die Haare locken = to curl the hair. The noun Locke (curl/ringlet) is more common; the verb is used but less frequently than kräuseln.

Examples

"Sie lockte ihr glattes Haar mit dem Lockenstab für den Abend."

Natural Translation

She curled her straight hair with the curling iron for the evening.

Literal Translation

She curled her smooth hair with the curling iron for the evening.

Free starter pack

Building your German vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common German words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Related Words

Explore German by topic

GermanNow

Der, Die, Das: Rules to Guess German Gender

German noun gender rules made simple: check the suffix first, then meaning. Endings like -ung, -chen, and -ling predict der, die, or das with ~90% accuracy.

June 5, 2026 6 min read

GermanNow

German Modal Verbs: Können, Müssen, Wollen and More

German modal verbs put the modal in position 2 and the real verb at the end. Master können, müssen, wollen and the rest with charts and clear examples.

June 5, 2026 5 min read

GermanNow

German Adjective Endings Made Simple

German adjective endings come down to one question, not three tables: does the article already show gender and case? If yes, the adjective stays lazy.

June 5, 2026 6 min read

GermanNow

German Greetings by Region: Grüß Gott to Grüezi

German greetings change by region: say Moin in Hamburg, Grüß Gott in Bavaria, Grüezi in Switzerland. A map of every hello and goodbye, plus du vs. Sie.

June 5, 2026 6 min read