Ahnfrau

[ˈaːnˌfʁaʊ̯]

/[ˈaːnˌfʁaʊ̯]/ noun

The verdict

“Ahnfrau” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
7
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - (sagenhafte) Begründerin eines Familiengeschlechts, Stammes, Volkes oder Ähnliches

Corpus desk

Index DE-ahnfrau · Ahnfrau · German

Ahnfrau · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • 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.

Key facts for Ahnfrau
PropertyValue
HeadwordAhnfrau
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈaːnˌfʁaʊ̯]
Letters7
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Ahnfrau“ im Deutschen

Ahnfrauliegt außerhalb der 100.000 häufigsten deutschen Wörter, im Langschwanz technischer, archaischer oder seltener Formen, genau dort, wo Schreibzweifeln zuschlagen.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Ahnfrau is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈaːnˌfʁaʊ̯]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Ahnfrau, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is Ahnfrau, spelled A-H-N-F-R-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    (sagenhafte) Begründerin eines Familiengeschlechts, Stammes, Volkes oder Ähnliches
  2. 2
    Mutter des Vaters oder der Mutter

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. „Zwar trennten bereits ihn mehr als vier Jahrhunderte von der hochgesegneten Ahnfrau Laura, aber nichtsdestoweniger will uns dies wie ein kurzer Gang erscheinen, wenn wir dazu in Vergleich setzen die nahezu unausdenkbare, die fast astronomische Entfernung, in der unsere Epoche dazu steht.“

Synonyms

AhnherrinAhnmutterStammmutterGroßmamaGroßmutterGroßmütterchenOmaOmamaOmchenOmiOmilein

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Ahnfrau"?
"Ahnfrau" is spelled A-H-N-F-R-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈaːnˌfʁaʊ̯].
What does "Ahnfrau" mean?
As a noun, "Ahnfrau" means: (sagenhafte) Begründerin eines Familiengeschlechts, Stammes, Volkes oder Ähnliches
How do you pronounce "Ahnfrau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Ahnfrau" is [ˈaːnˌfʁaʊ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Ahnfrau" come from?
"Ahnfrau" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list