knifflig
German, adjective/ˈknɪflɪç/
knifflig is spelled K-N-I-F-F-L-I-G (8 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written German, the 56,036th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Knifflig is a German adjective meaning “tricky, challenging (requiring careful planning, thought or calculation to overcome or handle properly)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “schwierig, viel Geduld und Phantasie erforderlich”.
What does knifflig mean in English?
adjective
- 1
informaltricky, challenging (requiring careful planning, thought or calculation to overcome or handle properly)
Diese Frage war besonders knifflig.
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. schwierig, viel Geduld und Phantasie erforderlich 2. heikel, viel Vorsicht und Fingerspitzengefühl erforderlich
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 knifflig
- kniffliger masculine nominative singular
- am kniffligsten superlative
- knifflige feminine nominative singular
- kniffliges neuter nominative singular
- kniffligen genitive masculine singular
- kniffligem dative masculine singular
- der knifflige definite includes-article masculine
- die knifflige definite feminine includes-article
- das knifflige definite includes-article neuter
- die kniffligen definite includes-article nominative
- des kniffligen definite genitive includes-article
- der kniffligen definite feminine genitive
- dem kniffligen dative definite includes-article
- kniffelig alternative
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce knifflig?
- /ˈknɪflɪç/
- /ˈknɪflɪk/
- [ˈknɪflɪç]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to knifflig
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is knifflig in German?
knifflig appears about once in every 2 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).