Haarspalter
German, noun[ˈhaːɐ̯ˌʃpaltɐ]
Haarspalter is spelled H-A-A-R-S-P-A-L-T-E-R (11 letters) and appears about once in every 98 million words in written German, the 625,801st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Haarspalter is a German masculine noun meaning “straw-splitter, pettifogger, nitpicker” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “kleinliche, auf irrelevante Unterscheidungen beharrende Person”.
What does Haarspalter mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinestraw-splitter, pettifogger, nitpicker
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. kleinliche, auf irrelevante Unterscheidungen beharrende Person
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of Haarspalter
- Haarspalters genitive
- Haarspaltern dative definite plural
- Haarspalterin feminine
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Haarspalter?
- [ˈhaːɐ̯ˌʃpaltɐ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Haarspalter in German?
Haarspalter appears about once in every 98 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).