es war einmal
[ɛs ˈvaːɐ̯ aɪ̯nˈmaːl]
The verdict
“es war einmal” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - vor unbestimmter Zeit begab es sich, dass …
Corpus desk
Index DE-es-war-einmal · es war einmal · German
es war einmal · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-5 5 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 | es war einmal |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Phrase |
| IPA | [ɛs ˈvaːɐ̯ aɪ̯nˈmaːl] |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „es war einmal“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
es war einmal is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase, transcribed [ɛs ˈvaːɐ̯ aɪ̯nˈmaːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "vor unbestimmter Zeit begab es sich, dass …".
es war einmal has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is es war einmal, spelled E-S- -W-A-R- -E-I-N-M-A-L.
Definition
- 1vor unbestimmter Zeit begab es sich, dass …
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how es war einmal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Es war einmal mitten im Winter, und die Schneeflocken fielen wie Federn vom Himmel herab, da saß eine Königin an einem Fenster, das einen Rahmen von schwarzem Ebenholz hatte, und nähte.
Es war einmal eine Königstochter, die ging hinaus in den Wald und setzte sich an einen kühlen Brunnen.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.