chiral

[çiˈʁaːl]

/[çiˈʁaːl]/ adj

The verdict

“chiral” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
6
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - in zueinander spiegelbildlichen Formen vorkommend

Corpus desk

Index DE-chiral · chiral · German

chiral · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "C" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for chiral
PropertyValue
Headwordchiral
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[çiˈʁaːl]
Letters6
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „chiral“ im Deutschen

chiralliegt außerhalb der 100.000 häufigsten deutschen Wörter, im Langschwanz technischer, archaischer oder seltener Formen, genau dort, wo Schreibzweifeln zuschlagen.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

chiral is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed [çiˈʁaːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "in zueinander spiegelbildlichen Formen vorkommend".

chiral has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, 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 chiral, spelled C-H-I-R-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    in zueinander spiegelbildlichen Formen vorkommend

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. „Ein Molekül ist chiral, wenn es weder eine Symmetrieebene σ noch ein Symmetriezentrum i (i von Inversion) aufweist.“

Antonyms

achiral

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "chiral"?
"chiral" is spelled C-H-I-R-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [çiˈʁaːl].
What does "chiral" mean?
As an adjective, "chiral" means: in zueinander spiegelbildlichen Formen vorkommend
How do you pronounce "chiral"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "chiral" is [çiˈʁaːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "chiral" come from?
"chiral" 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list