Höfling

[ˈhøːflɪŋ]

/[ˈhøːflɪŋ]/ noun

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

The verdict

“Höfling” is uncommon German (frequency #73,627 among 3,372 “H” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,627
frequency rank, German
3,372
“H” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - historisch, heute abwertend: Person, die zum Hofpersonal eines Herrschers gehört

Corpus desk

Index DE-hofling · Höfling · German

Höfling · rank #73,627 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,627
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,372
  • PHOTO-FINISH Höhenuntersch…

Nearest frequency peer: Höhenunterschiede (+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 „Höfling“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Höfling
PropertyValue
HeadwordHöfling
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈhøːflɪŋ]
Letters7
Frequency rank#73,627
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Höfling“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Höflingfällt 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: „Höhenunterschiede“ (#73,628), „hypnotisiert“ (#73,625), „Hüftgelenk“ (#73,630). Unter 3,372 „H“-Lemmata liegt „Höfling“ bei #73,627. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Höfling is uncommon German at frequency #73,627 among 3,372 “H” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈhøːflɪŋ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "historisch, heute abwertend: Person, die zum Hofpersonal eines Herrschers gehört".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Höfling, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, 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 Höfling, spelled H-Ö-F-L-I-N-G.

Definition

  1. 1
    historisch, heute abwertend: Person, die zum Hofpersonal eines Herrschers gehört

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Zudem muss Basileios seinen Höflingen misstrauen - etliche seiner Vorgänger sind durch Gift gestorben oder von Verschwörern gestürzt worden.“
  2. „Einige Höflinge spielten den Briten insgeheim Informationen aus der Stadt zu.“

This word in other languages

courtisan(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 "Höfling"?
"Höfling" is spelled H-Ö-F-L-I-N-G. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈhøːflɪŋ].
What does "Höfling" mean?
As a noun, "Höfling" means: historisch, heute abwertend: Person, die zum Hofpersonal eines Herrschers gehört
How do you pronounce "Höfling"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Höfling" is [ˈhøːflɪŋ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Höfling" come from?
"Höfling" 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 "Höfling", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

include#73,642Herisau#73,602Irrwege#73,658Gönnern#73,576

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list