abdriften

[ˈapˌdʁɪftn̩]

/[ˈapˌdʁɪftn̩]/ verb

The verdict

“abdriften” is uncommon German (frequency #99,415 among 6,976 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#99,415
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - durch eine Strömung, durch Wind vom ursprünglichen Kurs abkommen

Corpus desk

Index DE-abdriften · abdriften · German

abdriften · rank #99,415 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #99,415
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH Abblendlicht

Nearest frequency peer: Abblendlicht (-1 rank slots)

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.

Langschwanz-Ränge nahe „abdriften“

Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer

corpus weight

What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „abdriften“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for abdriften
PropertyValue
Headwordabdriften
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈapˌdʁɪftn̩]
Letters9
Frequency rank#99,415
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „abdriften“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).abdriftenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Abblendlicht“ (#99,414), „Abenteuerland“ (#99,416), „Aalborg“ (#99,413). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „abdriften“ bei #99,415. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

abdriften is uncommon German at frequency #99,415 among 6,976 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈapˌdʁɪftn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

abdriften has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is abdriften, spelled A-B-D-R-I-F-T-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    durch eine Strömung, durch Wind vom ursprünglichen Kurs abkommen
  2. 2
    vom ursprünglichen, richtigen Weg abkommen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how abdriften appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Das Segelschiff driftete vollkommen ab.
  2. Das Beiboot driftete ab, wobei es die Leine hinter sich herzog.

Synonyms

Antonyms

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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "abdriften"?
"abdriften" is spelled A-B-D-R-I-F-T-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈapˌdʁɪftn̩].
What does "abdriften" mean?
As a verb, "abdriften" means: durch eine Strömung, durch Wind vom ursprünglichen Kurs abkommen
How do you pronounce "abdriften"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "abdriften" is [ˈapˌdʁɪftn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "abdriften" come from?
"abdriften" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "abdriften", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list