-ig
[ɪç]
The verdict
“-ig” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 3
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - altes, sehr häufiges Suffix, das meist Adjektive und Adverbien aus meist Substantiven und Verben bildet. Das Suffix hängt sich oft dem unveränderten Wortstamm eines Grundwortes an, manchmal ist die...
Corpus desk
Index DE-ig · -ig · German
-ig · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "-" 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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | -ig |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Suffix |
| IPA | [ɪç] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “-ig” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
-ig is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed [ɪç]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 9 senses are on record.
-ig has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, 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 its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is -ig, spelled --I-G.
Definition
- 1altes, sehr häufiges Suffix, das meist Adjektive und Adverbien aus meist Substantiven und Verben bildet. Das Suffix hängt sich oft dem unveränderten Wortstamm eines Grundwortes an, manchmal ist dieser abgelautet, daneben gibt es auch komplexere und (etwa durch das hohe Alter der entsprechenden Bildungen) undurchsichtige Bildungsarten. Das Suffix ist noch heute produktiv. Zu den semantischen Beziehungen von Grundwort und suffigiertem Wort siehe die Wortbildungen. Aus Ableitungen auf -ig wurden und werden häufig weitere Ableitungen gebildet, teilweise ist dann auch nur die weitere Ableitung gebräuchlich (etwa bei sprödig und Sprödigkeit).
- 2denominal
- 3denominal
- 4denominal
- 5deverbal
- 6deverbal
- 7deverbal
- 8Suffix, das aus einem Wort einer anderen Wortklasse (meist Adverb) ein Adjektiv/Adverb bildet
- 9Suffix, das aus einem Grundwort ein neues Suffix bildet
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.