abtöten

[ˈapˌtøːtn̩]

/[ˈapˌtøːtn̩]/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“abtöten” is uncommon German (frequency #99,428 among 6,976 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#99,428
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - etwas Aktives/Gefährliches/Lebendes töten

Corpus desk

Index DE-abtoten · abtöten · German

abtöten · rank #99,428 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #99,428
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH abzuwaschen

Nearest frequency peer: abzuwaschen (+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 „abtöten“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for abtöten
PropertyValue
Headwordabtöten
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈapˌtøːtn̩]
Letters7
Frequency rank#99,428
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „abtöten“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „abzuwaschen“ (#99,429), „abzuwischen“ (#99,430), „abschleifen“ (#99,425). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „abtöten“ bei #99,428. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

abtöten is uncommon German at frequency #99,428 among 6,976 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈapˌtøːtn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for abtöten, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is abtöten, spelled A-B-T-Ö-T-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas Aktives/Gefährliches/Lebendes töten
  2. 2
    etwas Wirksames unwirksam machen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Desinfektionsmittel können auch nützliche Wasserorganismen abtöten.
  2. Durch Erhitzen werden Keime abgetötet.

Antonyms

erschaffengebärenaufbauenerwecken

This word in other languages

deaden(English)matar(Español)étouffer(Français)matar(Português)

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 "abtöten"?
"abtöten" is spelled A-B-T-Ö-T-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈapˌtøːtn̩].
What does "abtöten" mean?
As a verb, "abtöten" means: etwas Aktives/Gefährliches/Lebendes töten
How do you pronounce "abtöten"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "abtöten" is [ˈapˌtøːtn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "abtöten" come from?
"abtöten" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "abtöten", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Achille#99,431Abraxas#99,424Aalborg#99,413allowed#99,447

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list