ermächtigen

[ɛɐ̯ˈmɛçtɪɡn̩]

/[ɛɐ̯ˈmɛçtɪɡn̩]/ verb

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

The verdict

“ermächtigen” is uncommon German (frequency #95,515 among 4,632 “E” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#95,515
frequency rank, German
4,632
“E” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - jemandem das gesetzliche Recht, eine Befugnis (Macht, Vollmacht) geben, eine Handlung durchzuführen

Corpus desk

Index DE-ermachtigen · ermächtigen · German

ermächtigen · rank #95,515 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #95,515
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,632
  • PHOTO-FINISH erlebnisreich…

Nearest frequency peer: erlebnisreichen (-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 „ermächtigen“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ermächtigen
PropertyValue
Headwordermächtigen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ɛɐ̯ˈmɛçtɪɡn̩]
Letters11
Frequency rank#95,515
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „ermächtigen“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.ermächtigenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „erlebnisreichen“ (#95,514), „erreichende“ (#95,516), „Erlasses“ (#95,513). Unter 4,632 „E“-Lemmata liegt „ermächtigen“ bei #95,515. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ermächtigen is uncommon German at frequency #95,515 among 4,632 “E” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ɛɐ̯ˈmɛçtɪɡn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ermächtigen, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is ermächtigen, spelled E-R-M-Ä-C-H-T-I-G-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    jemandem das gesetzliche Recht, eine Befugnis (Macht, Vollmacht) geben, eine Handlung durchzuführen
  2. 2
    über eine Person Einfluss (Macht) erlangen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Dieser ermächtigte ihn, von den Polizeistellen Informationen zu beschaffen, die Knoll für die Einrichtung des neuen Universitätsbetriebes als unerlässlich ansah.“
  2. „Sie wurde ganz still, eine innere Freude ermächtigte sich ihrer, etwas, was sie lange nicht mehr erlebt hatte.“

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 "ermächtigen"?
"ermächtigen" is spelled E-R-M-Ä-C-H-T-I-G-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ɛɐ̯ˈmɛçtɪɡn̩].
What does "ermächtigen" mean?
As a verb, "ermächtigen" means: jemandem das gesetzliche Recht, eine Befugnis (Macht, Vollmacht) geben, eine Handlung durchzuführen
How do you pronounce "ermächtigen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ermächtigen" is [ɛɐ̯ˈmɛçtɪɡn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ermächtigen" come from?
"ermächtigen" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "ermächtigen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

erreichende#95,516Erzgebirges#95,522Facesitting#95,530federleicht#95,538

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list