erkühnen
[ɛɐ̯ˈkyːnən]
The verdict
“erkühnen” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - so wagemutig und frech (kühn) sein, dass man etwas eigentlich Unerlaubtes/Unzulässiges versucht
Corpus desk
Index DE-erkuhnen · erkühnen · German
erkühnen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 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 | erkühnen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ɛɐ̯ˈkyːnən] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „erkühnen“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
erkühnen is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed [ɛɐ̯ˈkyːnən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "so wagemutig und frech (kühn) sein, dass man etwas eigentlich Unerlaubtes/Unzulässiges versucht".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for erkühnen, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is erkühnen, spelled E-R-K-Ü-H-N-E-N.
Definition
- 1so wagemutig und frech (kühn) sein, dass man etwas eigentlich Unerlaubtes/Unzulässiges versucht
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how erkühnen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
„Einer Gemeinde, die sich erkühnt, sich bis zur Verfassungsbeschwerde hin gegen den Entzug der Zuständigkeit für die Abfallbeseitigung zu wehren, wird eine ‚Kohlhaas-Attitüde‘ nachgesagt.“
„Wie werde ich mich erkühnen zu kommen, da ich mir so vieler Sünden bewußt bin?“ (1849)
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.