dorsal

[dɔʁˈzaːl]

/[dɔʁˈzaːl]/ adj

The verdict

“dorsal” is uncommon German (frequency #87,601 among 2,764 “D” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#87,601
frequency rank, German
2,764
“D” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - die Rückseite eines Organs oder Körperteils betreffend

Corpus desk

Index DE-dorsal · dorsal · German

dorsal · rank #87,601 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #87,601
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,764
  • PHOTO-FINISH Donners

Nearest frequency peer: Donners (-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 „dorsal“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for dorsal
PropertyValue
Headworddorsal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[dɔʁˈzaːl]
Letters6
Frequency rank#87,601
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „dorsal“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).dorsalfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Donners“ (#87,600), „Drehbeginn“ (#87,602), „Drilling“ (#87,603). Unter 2,764 „D“-Lemmata liegt „dorsal“ bei #87,601. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

dorsal is uncommon German at frequency #87,601 among 2,764 “D” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [dɔʁˈzaːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for dorsal, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is dorsal, spelled D-O-R-S-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    die Rückseite eines Organs oder Körperteils betreffend
  2. 2
    Artikulation von Lauten mit dem Zungenrücken

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Die Gefahr, dass durch die Manipulation des Behandlers eine dorsalere Gelenkposition eingestellt wird, ist beim geführten Zentrikregistrat (Handbissnahme) größer.“
  2. „Das VKB darf die Tibia keinesfalls in eine dorsalere Richtung zwingen (keine fixierte hintere Subluxationsstellung).“

Antonyms

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 "dorsal"?
"dorsal" is spelled D-O-R-S-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [dɔʁˈzaːl].
What does "dorsal" mean?
As an adjective, "dorsal" means: die Rückseite eines Organs oder Körperteils betreffend
How do you pronounce "dorsal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dorsal" is [dɔʁˈzaːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "dorsal" come from?
"dorsal" 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dorsal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list