ancient

/[ˈeɪnʃənt]/ adj

Letters

7 characters

Frequency Rank

#38,572

in German word usage

Misspellings

10

tracked variants

Confusables

3

similar word pairs

ancient is anGermanadj. It means: sehr alt, uralt, antik Pronounced [ˈeɪnʃənt]. Often confused with ansieht and anzieht.

Key facts for ancient
PropertyValue
Headwordancient
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdj
IPA[ˈeɪnʃənt]
Letters7
Frequency rank#38,572
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of ancient in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for ancient is 7 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈeɪnʃənt]. Corpus data places it at rank #38,572 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "sehr alt, uralt, antik".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 10 documented wrong-spelling variants for ancient, with forms such as "acnient", "anccient", and "anceint". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "ansieht", "anzieht", "anhielt", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is ancient, spelled A-N-C-I-E-N-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    sehr alt, uralt, antik

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: acnient,anccient,anceint,anciennt,ancientt,ancietn,ancinet,anicent,anncient,nacient

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for ancient

Misspelling Variants of "ancient"

acnient7anccient8anceint7anciennt8ancientt8ancietn7ancinet7anicent7
Misspelling Variants of "ancient"

Frequency rank: #38,572 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ancient"?
"ancient" is spelled A-N-C-I-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈeɪnʃənt].
What does "ancient" mean?
As an adj, "ancient" means: sehr alt, uralt, antik
What words are commonly confused with "ancient"?
"ancient" is commonly confused with "ansieht", "anzieht", "anhielt". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ancient"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ancient" is [ˈeɪnʃənt]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ancient" come from?
"ancient" 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.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter A in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.