Kirchenmaus
German, noun[ˈkɪʁçn̩maʊ̯s]
Kirchenmaus is spelled K-I-R-C-H-E-N-M-A-U-S (11 letters) and appears about once in every 11 million words in written German, the 179,801st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Kirchenmaus is a German feminine noun meaning “mouse (living) in a church (nearly exclusively used in the idiom arm wie eine Kirchenmaus)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “verarmte, sehr arme Person”.
What does Kirchenmaus mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininemouse (living) in a church (nearly exclusively used in the idiom arm wie eine Kirchenmaus)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. verarmte, sehr arme Person
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of Kirchenmaus
- Kirchenmäuse plural
- Kirchenmäusen dative definite plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Kirchenmaus?
- [ˈkɪʁçn̩maʊ̯s]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Kirchenmaus in German?
Kirchenmaus appears about once in every 11 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).