Gedankenexperiment

[ɡəˈdaŋkn̩ʔɛkspeʁiˌmɛnt]

/[ɡəˈdaŋkn̩ʔɛkspeʁiˌmɛnt]/ noun

The verdict

“Gedankenexperiment” is uncommon German (frequency #73,521 among 5,117 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,521
frequency rank, German
5,117
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nur gedanklich und nicht praktisch durchgeführtes Experiment zum Beweisen einer Theorie

Corpus desk

Index DE-gedankenexperiment · Gedankenexperiment · German

Gedankenexperiment · rank #73,521 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,521
  • LEN-MEGA 18 letters
  • VOW-7 7 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,117
  • PHOTO-FINISH gebrauche

Nearest frequency peer: gebrauche (-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 „Gedankenexperiment“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Gedankenexperiment
PropertyValue
HeadwordGedankenexperiment
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ɡəˈdaŋkn̩ʔɛkspeʁiˌmɛnt]
Letters18
Frequency rank#73,521
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Gedankenexperiment“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).Gedankenexperimentfällt 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: „gebrauche“ (#73,520), „geflochtenen“ (#73,522), „Gastwirte“ (#73,519). Unter 5,117 „G“-Lemmata liegt „Gedankenexperiment“ bei #73,521. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Gedankenexperiment is uncommon German at frequency #73,521 among 5,117 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ɡəˈdaŋkn̩ʔɛkspeʁiˌmɛnt]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nur gedanklich und nicht praktisch durchgeführtes Experiment zum Beweisen einer Theorie".

Zero misspellings are on record for Gedankenexperiment in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, 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 easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Gedankenexperiment, spelled G-E-D-A-N-K-E-N-E-X-P-E-R-I-M-E-N-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    nur gedanklich und nicht praktisch durchgeführtes Experiment zum Beweisen einer Theorie

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „In einem Gedankenexperiment waren die Forscher der Frage nachgegangen, was mit einem Astronauten passierte, wenn dieser in ein Schwarzes Loch stürzt.“
  2. „Sobald wir mit dem Begriff Zeit zu experimentieren beginnen, und sei es auch nur als Gedankenexperiment oder zum rein intellektuellen Zeitvertreib, müssen wir feststellen, daß unsere Sprache und mit ihr unsere Denkprozesse uns sehr bald im Stich lassen.“

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); 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 "Gedankenexperiment"?
"Gedankenexperiment" is spelled G-E-D-A-N-K-E-N-E-X-P-E-R-I-M-E-N-T. The IPA pronunciation is [ɡəˈdaŋkn̩ʔɛkspeʁiˌmɛnt].
What does "Gedankenexperiment" mean?
As a noun, "Gedankenexperiment" means: nur gedanklich und nicht praktisch durchgeführtes Experiment zum Beweisen einer Theorie
How do you pronounce "Gedankenexperiment"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Gedankenexperiment" is [ɡəˈdaŋkn̩ʔɛkspeʁiˌmɛnt]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Gedankenexperiment" come from?
"Gedankenexperiment" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "Gedankenexperiment", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 18 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list