Bergfried

[ˈbɛʁkˌfʁiːt]

/[ˈbɛʁkˌfʁiːt]/ noun

The verdict

“Bergfried” is uncommon German (frequency #75,448 among 5,818 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#75,448
frequency rank, German
5,818
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - der für die letzte Verteidigung gedachte innere Hauptturm einer mittelalterlichen Burg

Corpus desk

Index DE-bergfried · Bergfried · German

Bergfried · rank #75,448 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #75,448
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,818
  • PHOTO-FINISH Bernsdorf

Nearest frequency peer: Bernsdorf (+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 „Bergfried“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Bergfried
PropertyValue
HeadwordBergfried
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈbɛʁkˌfʁiːt]
Letters9
Frequency rank#75,448
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Bergfried“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Bergfriedfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Bernsdorf“ (#75,449), „Bereifung“ (#75,446), „Berufsanfänger“ (#75,451). Unter 5,818 „B“-Lemmata liegt „Bergfried“ bei #75,448. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Bergfried is uncommon German at frequency #75,448 among 5,818 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈbɛʁkˌfʁiːt]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "der für die letzte Verteidigung gedachte innere Hauptturm einer mittelalterlichen Burg".

Bergfried has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists 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 Bergfried, spelled B-E-R-G-F-R-I-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    der für die letzte Verteidigung gedachte innere Hauptturm einer mittelalterlichen Burg

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Der Bergfried etablierte sich als ein neuer Bautyp im Verlauf des 12. Jahrhunderts und prägte von ungefähr 1180 bis in das 14. Jahrhundert hinein das Bild der mitteleuropäischen Burgenlandschaft.“
  2. „Nur der Bergfried war gut zu erkennen, denn der Bergfried stand noch in voller Größe da, die anderen Teile der Anlage aber hatten die Franzosen vor etwa dreihundert Jahren einfach zerstört.“

Synonyms

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 "Bergfried"?
"Bergfried" is spelled B-E-R-G-F-R-I-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈbɛʁkˌfʁiːt].
What does "Bergfried" mean?
As a noun, "Bergfried" means: der für die letzte Verteidigung gedachte innere Hauptturm einer mittelalterlichen Burg
How do you pronounce "Bergfried"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Bergfried" is [ˈbɛʁkˌfʁiːt]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Bergfried" come from?
"Bergfried" 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 "Bergfried", 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