gurgeln

[ˈɡʊʁɡl̩n]

/[ˈɡʊʁɡl̩n]/ verb

The verdict

“gurgeln” is uncommon German (frequency #69,312 among 5,117 “G” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,312
frequency rank, German
5,117
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - den Rachen mit einer Flüssigkeit spülen, indem man diese im Rachen hält und Luft aus der Lunge durch die Flüssigkeit ausatmet

Corpus desk

Index DE-gurgeln · gurgeln · German

gurgeln · rank #69,312 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,312
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,117
  • PHOTO-FINISH gähnt

Nearest frequency peer: gähnt (+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 „gurgeln“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for gurgeln
PropertyValue
Headwordgurgeln
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈɡʊʁɡl̩n]
Letters7
Frequency rank#69,312
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „gurgeln“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).gurgelnfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „gähnt“ (#69,313), „Görz“ (#69,314), „Göttlichkeit“ (#69,315). Unter 5,117 „G“-Lemmata liegt „gurgeln“ bei #69,312. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

gurgeln is uncommon German at frequency #69,312 among 5,117 “G” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈɡʊʁɡl̩n]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for gurgeln in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is gurgeln, spelled G-U-R-G-E-L-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    den Rachen mit einer Flüssigkeit spülen, indem man diese im Rachen hält und Luft aus der Lunge durch die Flüssigkeit ausatmet
  2. 2
    Geräusch von in Bewegung befindlichem Wasser erzeugen, mit Wasser im Mund sprechen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Wenn es im Hals kratzt, kann man mit einer desinfizierenden Lösung gurgeln.
  2. Bei einem bestimmten Gesellschaftsspiel muss ein Spieler die Melodie gurgeln, welche von den Mitspielern erraten werden soll.

Synonyms

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 "gurgeln"?
"gurgeln" is spelled G-U-R-G-E-L-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈɡʊʁɡl̩n].
What does "gurgeln" mean?
As a verb, "gurgeln" means: den Rachen mit einer Flüssigkeit spülen, indem man diese im Rachen hält und Luft aus der Lunge durch die Flüssigkeit ausatmet
How do you pronounce "gurgeln"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gurgeln" is [ˈɡʊʁɡl̩n]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "gurgeln" come from?
"gurgeln" 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 "gurgeln", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list