ächzen

[ˈɛçt͡sn̩]

/[ˈɛçt͡sn̩]/ verb

The verdict

“ächzen” is uncommon German (frequency #78,808 among 75 “Ä” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,808
frequency rank, German
75
“Ä” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - aufgrund einer schweren Last, einer körperlichen Anstrengung (wiederholt) aufstöhnen

Corpus desk

Index DE-achzen · ächzen · German

ächzen · rank #78,808 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,808
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 75
  • PHOTO-FINISH Zöliakie

Nearest frequency peer: Zöliakie (-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 „ächzen“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ächzen
PropertyValue
Headwordächzen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈɛçt͡sn̩]
Letters6
Frequency rank#78,808
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „ächzen“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Zöliakie“ (#78,807), „ähnelten“ (#78,809), „Zweitwohnsitz“ (#78,806). Unter 75 „Ä“-Lemmata liegt „ächzen“ bei #78,808. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ächzen is uncommon German at frequency #78,808 among 75 “Ä” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈɛçt͡sn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "aufgrund einer schweren Last, einer körperlichen Anstrengung (wiederholt) aufstöhnen".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ächzen, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, 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 is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is ächzen, spelled Ä-C-H-Z-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    aufgrund einer schweren Last, einer körperlichen Anstrengung (wiederholt) aufstöhnen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Endlich überwältigte der Schlaf die lärmenden Zecher, und es wurde still in den Lagerplätzen. Auf dem langgestreckten Schlachtfelde aber ächzten und stöhnten die Sterbenden, Freund und Feind beieinander.“
  2. „Unterbrochen wird die Stille nur durch das Knacken der Äste, die unter der Last des Schnees ächzen.“

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

How do you spell "ächzen"?
"ächzen" is spelled Ä-C-H-Z-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈɛçt͡sn̩].
What does "ächzen" mean?
As a verb, "ächzen" means: aufgrund einer schweren Last, einer körperlichen Anstrengung (wiederholt) aufstöhnen
How do you pronounce "ächzen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ächzen" is [ˈɛçt͡sn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ächzen" come from?
"ächzen" 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 "ächzen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list