kidnappen
[ˈkɪtˌnɛpn̩]
The verdict
“kidnappen” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - jemanden oder eine Sache entführen (um Lösegeld oder andere Leistungen zu erpressen)
Corpus desk
Index DE-kidnappen · kidnappen · German
kidnappen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "K" 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 | kidnappen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈkɪtˌnɛpn̩] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „kidnappen“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
kidnappen is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈkɪtˌnɛpn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "jemanden oder eine Sache entführen (um Lösegeld oder andere Leistungen zu erpressen)".
Zero misspellings are on record for kidnappen in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is kidnappen, spelled K-I-D-N-A-P-P-E-N.
Definition
- 1jemanden oder eine Sache entführen (um Lösegeld oder andere Leistungen zu erpressen)
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how kidnappen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Eine Verbrecherbande hat meine Tochter gekidnappt und verlangt ein Lösegeld.
„Sie wäre aber nicht verwunderlich bei einer Crew, die skrupellos eine gesamte Besatzung kidnappt und in eigene Dienste zwingt.“
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.