a. D.
[aːˈdeː]
The verdict
“a. D.” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as an abbreviation. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - auf Dienstleistung
Corpus desk
Index DE-a-d · a. D. · German
a. D. · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | a. D. |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Abbreviation |
| IPA | [aːˈdeː] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Wo “a. D.” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt
Rare enough to double-check
a. D. is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anabbreviation, transcribed [aːˈdeː]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for a. D., suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is a. D., spelled A-.- -D-..
Definition
- 1auf Dienstleistung
- 2außer Dienst
- 3an der Donau
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how a. D. appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Major a. D. Meier war Mitglied im Kriegerverein.
„Dubslav von Stechlin, Major a. D. und schon ein gut Stück über Sechzig hinaus, war der Typus eines Märkischen von Adel, aber von der milderen Observanz, eines jener erquicklichen Originale, bei denen sich selbst die Schwächen in Vorzüge verwandeln.“
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.