der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her

[dɛʁ fɪʃ ʃtɪŋkt ˈɪmɐ fɔm ˈkɔp͡fə hɛʁ]

/[dɛʁ fɪʃ ʃtɪŋkt ˈɪmɐ fɔm ˈkɔp͡fə hɛʁ]/ phrase

The verdict

“der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her” is outside the top-ranked German vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
36
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — Verantwortung für die Probleme liegt (immer) bei den Entscheidungsträgern

Key facts for der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her
PropertyValue
Headwordder Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPhrase
IPA[dɛʁ fɪʃ ʃtɪŋkt ˈɪmɐ fɔm ˈkɔp͡fə hɛʁ]
Letters36
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her” sits in German frequency

der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her falls outside the top-100,000 ranked German words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

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

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her is 36 letters long, classified as a phrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [dɛʁ fɪʃ ʃtɪŋkt ˈɪmɐ fɔm ˈkɔp͡fə hɛʁ]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Verantwortung für die Probleme liegt (immer) bei den Entscheidungsträgern".

No misspelling variants are generated for der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her, spelled D-E-R- -F-I-S-C-H- -S-T-I-N-K-T- -I-M-M-E-R- -V-O-M- -K-O-P-F-E- -H-E-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Verantwortung für die Probleme liegt (immer) bei den Entscheidungsträgern

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her, German word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/de/wort/der-fisch-stinkt-immer-vom-kopfe-her

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her"?
"der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her" is spelled D-E-R- -F-I-S-C-H- -S-T-I-N-K-T- -I-M-M-E-R- -V-O-M- -K-O-P-F-E- -H-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [dɛʁ fɪʃ ʃtɪŋkt ˈɪmɐ fɔm ˈkɔp͡fə hɛʁ].
What does "der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her" mean?
As a phrase, "der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her" means: Verantwortung für die Probleme liegt (immer) bei den Entscheidungsträgern
How do you pronounce "der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her" is [dɛʁ fɪʃ ʃtɪŋkt ˈɪmɐ fɔm ˈkɔp͡fə hɛʁ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her" come from?
"der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her" 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.

Using “der Fisch stinkt immer vom Kopfe her”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is D-E-R- -F-I-S-C-H- -S-T-I-N-K-T- -I-M-M-E-R- -V-O-M- -K-O-P-F-E- -H-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [dɛʁ fɪʃ ʃtɪŋkt ˈɪmɐ fɔm ˈkɔp͡fə hɛʁ] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter D in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list