backbone

[ˈbækbəʊn]

/[ˈbækbəʊn]/ noun

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

The verdict

“backbone” is uncommon German (frequency #78,915 among 5,818 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,915
frequency rank, German
5,818
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Rückgrat

Corpus desk

Index DE-backbone · backbone · German

backbone · rank #78,915 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,915
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,818
  • PHOTO-FINISH badischer

Nearest frequency peer: badischer (+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 „backbone“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for backbone
PropertyValue
Headwordbackbone
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈbækbəʊn]
Letters8
Frequency rank#78,915
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „backbone“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „badischer“ (#78,916), „bagage“ (#78,917), „Avatare“ (#78,912). Unter 5,818 „B“-Lemmata liegt „backbone“ bei #78,915. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

backbone is uncommon German at frequency #78,915 among 5,818 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈbækbəʊn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

backbone doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is backbone, spelled B-A-C-K-B-O-N-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Rückgrat
  2. 2
    Rückgrat, Stütze eines Systems
  3. 3
    Charakterstärke, Mut einer Person

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. "INVERTEBRATA, or INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS.—Those animals which do not possess a backbone or spinal column."
  2. "Industry--and the engineer is the backbone of industry--is a hotbed of competition."

Synonyms

decisionfirmnessfortitude

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 "backbone"?
"backbone" is spelled B-A-C-K-B-O-N-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈbækbəʊn].
What does "backbone" mean?
As a noun, "backbone" means: Rückgrat
How do you pronounce "backbone"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "backbone" is [ˈbækbəʊn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "backbone" come from?
"backbone" 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "backbone", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Baustopp#78,934ausbaute#78,893beifügen#78,945animated#78,857

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list