flau

[flaʊ̯]

/[flaʊ̯]/ adj

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

The verdict

“flau” is uncommon German (frequency #91,589 among 3,474 “F” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#91,589
frequency rank, German
3,474
“F” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - schwach, matt

Corpus desk

Index DE-flau · flau · German

flau · rank #91,589 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #91,589
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,474
  • PHOTO-FINISH Fladen

Nearest frequency peer: Fladen (-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 „flau“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for flau
PropertyValue
Headwordflau
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[flaʊ̯]
Letters4
Frequency rank#91,589
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „flau“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Fladen“ (#91,588), „florierende“ (#91,590), „Flachbildfernseher“ (#91,587). Unter 3,474 „F“-Lemmata liegt „flau“ bei #91,589. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

flau is uncommon German at frequency #91,589 among 3,474 “F” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [flaʊ̯]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "schwach, matt".

flau doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. 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.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is flau, spelled F-L-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    schwach, matt

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Die Zeichnung ist fein, aber die Farben sind flau.

This word in other languages

weak(English)débil(Español)faible(Français)

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 "flau"?
"flau" is spelled F-L-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is [flaʊ̯].
What does "flau" mean?
As an adjective, "flau" means: schwach, matt
How do you pronounce "flau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "flau" is [flaʊ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "flau" come from?
"flau" 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 "flau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fino#91,585ETCS#91,556Erie#91,541gurk#91,697

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list