jail

[…]

/[…]/ noun

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

The verdict

“jail” is uncommon German (frequency #81,708 among 699 “J” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#81,708
frequency rank, German
699
“J” headwords

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

Corpus desk

Index DE-jail · jail · German

jail · rank #81,708 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #81,708
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 699
  • PHOTO-FINISH Jahresabschlu…

Nearest frequency peer: Jahresabschlusses (-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 „jail“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for jail
PropertyValue
Headwordjail
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[…]
Letters4
Frequency rank#81,708
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „jail“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).jailfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Jahresabschlusses“ (#81,707), „Jazzclub“ (#81,709), „Jeeps“ (#81,710). Unter 699 „J“-Lemmata liegt „jail“ bei #81,708. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

jail is uncommon German at frequency #81,708 among 699 “J” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "das Gefängnis".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for jail, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is jail, spelled J-A-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    das Gefängnis

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. I have never been in jail.

Synonyms

prison

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 "jail"?
"jail" is spelled J-A-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "jail" mean?
As a noun, "jail" means: das Gefängnis
How do you pronounce "jail"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "jail" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "jail" come from?
"jail" 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 "jail", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

katt#81,730Holi#81,676laun#81,804Lend#81,815

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list