deskriptiv

[deskʁɪpˈtiːf]

/[deskʁɪpˈtiːf]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“deskriptiv” is uncommon German (frequency #75,524 among 2,764 “D” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#75,524
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - beschreibend, etwas unter Verwendung der Begriffe der Linguistik darstellend

Corpus desk

Index DE-deskriptiv · deskriptiv · German

deskriptiv · rank #75,524 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #75,524
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Determinismus

Nearest frequency peer: Determinismus (+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 „deskriptiv“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for deskriptiv
PropertyValue
Headworddeskriptiv
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[deskʁɪpˈtiːf]
Letters10
Frequency rank#75,524
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „deskriptiv“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.deskriptivfällt 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: „Determinismus“ (#75,525), „Delft“ (#75,522), „Dezernent“ (#75,526). Unter 2,764 „D“-Lemmata liegt „deskriptiv“ bei #75,524. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

deskriptiv is uncommon German at frequency #75,524 among 2,764 “D” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [deskʁɪpˈtiːf]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

deskriptiv doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is deskriptiv, spelled D-E-S-K-R-I-P-T-I-V.

Definition

  1. 1
    beschreibend, etwas unter Verwendung der Begriffe der Linguistik darstellend
  2. 2
    sachlich darstellend

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Deskriptiv ist einer der Schlüsselbegriffe der modernen Sprachwissenschaft, die sich vor allem als deskriptive Linguistik versteht und damit von präskriptiven Ansätzen abgrenzt.
  2. „Diese Formulierungen zeigen die Abwendung von einer eher präskriptiven Sprachbeschreibung zugunsten einer eher deskriptiven Orientierung.“

Synonyms

beschreibenddarstellend

Antonyms

präskriptivnormativargumentativnormativwertend

This word in other languages

descriptive(English)

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 "deskriptiv"?
"deskriptiv" is spelled D-E-S-K-R-I-P-T-I-V. The IPA pronunciation is [deskʁɪpˈtiːf].
What does "deskriptiv" mean?
As an adjective, "deskriptiv" means: beschreibend, etwas unter Verwendung der Begriffe der Linguistik darstellend
How do you pronounce "deskriptiv"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "deskriptiv" is [deskʁɪpˈtiːf]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "deskriptiv" come from?
"deskriptiv" 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 "deskriptiv", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Dunstkreis#75,548enthaltend#75,572Blattläuse#75,470Erblassers#75,584

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list