en passant
[ɑ̃paˈsɑ̃ː]
The verdict
“en passant” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - am Rande (noch mit erledigen)
Corpus desk
Index DE-en-passant · en passant · German
en passant · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 10 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" 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 | en passant |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Phrase |
| IPA | [ɑ̃paˈsɑ̃ː] |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „en passant“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
en passant is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase, transcribed [ɑ̃paˈsɑ̃ː]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for en passant in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
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 en passant, spelled E-N- -P-A-S-S-A-N-T.
Definition
- 1am Rande (noch mit erledigen)
- 2im Vorübergehen
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how en passant appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Ich habe nur en passant erfahren, dass er sich von seiner Frau getrennt hat.
„Wenn Wieland in einem Brief erwähnt, er schreibe ihn »mit einer von einem ziemlich hartnäckigen rheumatismus beinahe gelähmten Hand«, so geschieht dies recht en passant, unsereins würde lauter jammern.“
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.