ankern

[ˈaŋkɐn]

/[ˈaŋkɐn]/ verb

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

The verdict

“ankern” is uncommon German (frequency #64,964 among 6,976 “A” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#64,964
frequency rank, German
6,976
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - den Anker auswerfen

Corpus desk

Index DE-ankern · ankern · German

ankern · rank #64,964 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #64,964
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,976
  • PHOTO-FINISH angleichen

Nearest frequency peer: angleichen (-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 „ankern“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ankern
PropertyValue
Headwordankern
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈaŋkɐn]
Letters6
Frequency rank#64,964
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „ankern“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „angleichen“ (#64,963), „angestachelt“ (#64,962), „anliegt“ (#64,966). Unter 6,976 „A“-Lemmata liegt „ankern“ bei #64,964. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ankern is uncommon German at frequency #64,964 among 6,976 “A” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈaŋkɐn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for ankern in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is ankern, spelled A-N-K-E-R-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    den Anker auswerfen
  2. 2
    mit einem Anker an einem bestimmten Ort festgemacht sein

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Die Piraten konnten im seichten Wasser nicht ankern und so kreuzte ihr Schiff stattdessen zwei Tage lang bedrohlich vor der Hafeneinfahrt.
  2. Frau Meiers Yacht ankert vor Monaco.

This word in other languages

drop anchor(English)ancrer(Français)

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 "ankern"?
"ankern" is spelled A-N-K-E-R-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈaŋkɐn].
What does "ankern" mean?
As a verb, "ankern" means: den Anker auswerfen
How do you pronounce "ankern"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ankern" is [ˈaŋkɐn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ankern" come from?
"ankern" 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 "ankern", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Andrés#64,961Anbaus#64,959Aladin#64,948Akutes#64,947

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list