deaf

[dɛf]

/[dɛf]/ adj

The verdict

“deaf” is uncommon German (frequency #81,415 among 2,764 “D” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,415
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords

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

Corpus desk

Index DE-deaf · deaf · German

deaf · rank #81,415 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #81,415
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Defekts

Nearest frequency peer: Defekts (+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 „deaf“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for deaf
PropertyValue
Headworddeaf
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[dɛf]
Letters4
Frequency rank#81,415
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „deaf“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.deaffällt 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: „Defekts“ (#81,416), „defizitär“ (#81,417), „Deformation“ (#81,418). Unter 2,764 „D“-Lemmata liegt „deaf“ bei #81,415. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

deaf is uncommon German at frequency #81,415 among 2,764 “D” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [dɛf]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

deaf doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is deaf, spelled D-E-A-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    taub, gehörlos
  2. 2
    schwerhörig

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Deaf people were not allowed to use sign language.

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 "deaf"?
"deaf" is spelled D-E-A-F. The IPA pronunciation is [dɛf].
What does "deaf" mean?
As an adjective, "deaf" means: taub, gehörlos
How do you pronounce "deaf"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "deaf" is [dɛf]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "deaf" come from?
"deaf" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "deaf", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list