bagatelle

[ba.ɡa.tɛl]

/[ba.ɡa.tɛl]/ noun

The verdict

“bagatelle” is uncommon German (frequency #68,034 among 5,818 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#68,034
frequency rank, German
5,818
“B” headwords

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

Corpus desk

Index DE-bagatelle · bagatelle · German

bagatelle · rank #68,034 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #68,034
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,818
  • PHOTO-FINISH axial

Nearest frequency peer: axial (-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 „bagatelle“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bagatelle
PropertyValue
Headwordbagatelle
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ba.ɡa.tɛl]
Letters9
Frequency rank#68,034
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „bagatelle“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).bagatellefällt 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: „axial“ (#68,033), „bake“ (#68,035), „AWG“ (#68,032). Unter 5,818 „B“-Lemmata liegt „bagatelle“ bei #68,034. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bagatelle is uncommon German at frequency #68,034 among 5,818 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ba.ɡa.tɛl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for bagatelle in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is bagatelle, spelled B-A-G-A-T-E-L-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Liebe, sexuelle Liebe
  2. 2
    Bagatelle, Kleinigkeit, Nichtigkeit, Lappalie

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 "bagatelle"?
"bagatelle" is spelled B-A-G-A-T-E-L-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ba.ɡa.tɛl].
What does "bagatelle" mean?
As a noun, "bagatelle" means: Liebe, sexuelle Liebe
How do you pronounce "bagatelle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bagatelle" is [ba.ɡa.tɛl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "bagatelle" come from?
"bagatelle" 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 "bagatelle", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list