cruel
[…]
The verdict
“cruel” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - absichtlich gemein; absichtlich Schmerz oder Leid verursachend
Corpus desk
Index DE-cruel · cruel · German
cruel · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cruel |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | […] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „cruel“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
cruel is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "absichtlich gemein; absichtlich Schmerz oder Leid verursachend".
cruel doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is cruel, spelled C-R-U-E-L.
Definition
- 1absichtlich gemein; absichtlich Schmerz oder Leid verursachend
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.