gaffen

[ˈɡafn̩]

/[ˈɡafn̩]/ verb

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

The verdict

“gaffen” is uncommon German (frequency #66,234 among 5,117 “G” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,234
frequency rank, German
5,117
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - neugierig starren

Corpus desk

Index DE-gaffen · gaffen · German

gaffen · rank #66,234 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,234
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,117
  • PHOTO-FINISH Försterei

Nearest frequency peer: Försterei (-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 „gaffen“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gaffen
PropertyValue
Headwordgaffen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈɡafn̩]
Letters6
Frequency rank#66,234
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „gaffen“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).gaffenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Försterei“ (#66,233), „Gallenblase“ (#66,235), „Gamecube“ (#66,236). Unter 5,117 „G“-Lemmata liegt „gaffen“ bei #66,234. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gaffen is uncommon German at frequency #66,234 among 5,117 “G” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈɡafn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "neugierig starren".

gaffen has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is gaffen, spelled G-A-F-F-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    neugierig starren

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Steh nicht da und gaff! Hilf mir lieber!
  2. Da sie merkte, wie emsig er nach ihr gaffte, so warf sie gleichfalls bisweilen einen Blick auf ihn und ließ einige Seufzerchen fahren, um ihn zu reizen.

This word in other languages

gape(English)badauder(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 "gaffen"?
"gaffen" is spelled G-A-F-F-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈɡafn̩].
What does "gaffen" mean?
As a verb, "gaffen" means: neugierig starren
How do you pronounce "gaffen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gaffen" is [ˈɡafn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gaffen" come from?
"gaffen" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "gaffen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

gedopt#66,239giving#66,271Happel#66,291ehedem#66,145

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list