illuminieren
[ɪlumiˈniːʁən]
The verdict
“illuminieren” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - festlich beleuchten
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | illuminieren |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ɪlumiˈniːʁən] |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “illuminieren” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
illuminieren is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed [ɪlumiˈniːʁən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for illuminieren, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is illuminieren, spelled I-L-L-U-M-I-N-I-E-R-E-N.
Definition
- 1festlich beleuchten
- 2Handschriften ausmalen (von Künstlern des Mittelalters)
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
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Using “illuminieren”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is I-L-L-U-M-I-N-I-E-R-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ɪlumiˈniːʁən] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
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.