abyss
[əˈbɪs]
The verdict
“abyss” is uncommon German (frequency #82,450 among 6,976 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #82,450
- frequency rank, German
- 6,976
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - großes Loch, unermessliche Tiefe, sich in die Tiefe erstreckender Raum, Leere: Abgrund, Schlund, Kluft
Corpus desk
Index DE-abyss · abyss · German
abyss · rank #82,450 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #82,450
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,976
- PHOTO-FINISH Abwehrsystem
Nearest frequency peer: Abwehrsystem (-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 „abyss“
Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer
- abtippen
abtippen
17,554 corpus weight
- Abtragung
Abtragung
17,553 corpus weight
- Abwehrsystem
Abwehrsystem
17,552 corpus weight
- abyss
abyss
17,551 corpus weight
- abzumildern
abzumildern
17,549 corpus weight
- Acetat
Acetat
17,548 corpus weight
What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „abyss“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | abyss |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [əˈbɪs] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #82,450 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „abyss“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
abyss is uncommon German at frequency #82,450 among 6,976 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [əˈbɪs]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
abyss doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
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 abyss, spelled A-B-Y-S-S.
Definition
- 1großes Loch, unermessliche Tiefe, sich in die Tiefe erstreckender Raum, Leere: Abgrund, Schlund, Kluft
- 2etwas, das endlos zu sein scheint und gefährlich oder frustrierend; großer Abstand: Abgrund, Kluft
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how abyss appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
While crossing the crevasse, the climber's rope failed, and he plunged into the abyss.
“Again, as before, all of a sudden, without the slightest transition, he felt cast down from a pinnacle of happiness, peace, and dignity, into an abyss of despair, rage, and humiliation.”
Synonyms
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
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Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "abyss", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).