i. e.

abbrev

The verdict

“i. e.” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as an abbreviation. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
5
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - das ist, das heißt

Corpus desk

Index DE-i-e · i. e. · German

i. e. · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "I" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

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.

Key facts for i. e.
PropertyValue
Headwordi. e.
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAbbreviation
Letters5
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „i. e.“ im Deutschen

i. e.sitzt jenseits der 100.000 häufigsten deutschen Formen, im Schwanz spezialisierten oder seltenen Wortschatzes.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

i. e. is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anabbreviation. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "das ist, das heißt".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for i. e., since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is i. e., spelled I-.- -E-..

Definition

  1. 1
    das ist, das heißt

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. „Oft läßt es sich geschickt durch ›zwar‹ übersetzen, wenn ut (i. e. aber) darauf folgt.“

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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "i. e."?
"i. e." is spelled I-.- -E-..
What does "i. e." mean?
As an abbreviation, "i. e." means: das ist, das heißt
What language does "i. e." come from?
"i. e." 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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list