Filou
[fiˈluː]
The verdict
“Filou” is uncommon German (frequency #87,690 among 3,474 “F” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #87,690
- frequency rank, German
- 3,474
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Betrüger, Gauner, Spitzbube
Corpus desk
Index DE-filou · Filou · German
Filou · rank #87,690 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #87,690
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,474
- PHOTO-FINISH fiore
Nearest frequency peer: fiore (+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 „Filou“
Dünnes Band: Balken invertieren den Rang, seltenere Formen wirken kürzer
- festhielten
festhielten
12,314 corpus weight
- Feuersturm
Feuersturm
12,313 corpus weight
- Filou
Filou
12,311 corpus weight
- fiore
fiore
12,310 corpus weight
- Firmenchefs
Firmenchefs
12,309 corpus weight
- fiume
fiume
12,308 corpus weight
What this shows Langschwanz-Sicht: wo „Filou“ gegen ähnlich seltene deutsche Ränge sitzt.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Filou |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [fiˈluː] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #87,690 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „Filou“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
Filou is uncommon German at frequency #87,690 among 3,474 “F” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [fiˈluː]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Betrüger, Gauner, Spitzbube".
Filou doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No borrowing history is documented 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 Filou, spelled F-I-L-O-U.
Definition
- 1Betrüger, Gauner, Spitzbube
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how Filou appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
„Er war also ein Filou, jetzt hatte sie ihn ertappt! Er lernte Redensarten auswendig, um Eindruck zu schinden.“
„Es war doch nicht seine Schuld, dass dieser okkulte Filou das Gewicht ihres Gatten um die Last seiner Hoden und des Hodensacks erleichtert 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 "Filou"?
What does "Filou" mean?
How do you pronounce "Filou"?
What language does "Filou" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar German words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Filou", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).