kolossal

[ˌkolɔˈsaːl]

/[ˌkolɔˈsaːl]/ adj

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

The verdict

“kolossal” is uncommon German (frequency #76,976 among 4,158 “K” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#76,976
frequency rank, German
4,158
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - wie ein Koloss

Corpus desk

Index DE-kolossal · kolossal · German

kolossal · rank #76,976 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #76,976
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,158
  • PHOTO-FINISH Kobane

Nearest frequency peer: Kobane (-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 „kolossal“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for kolossal
PropertyValue
Headwordkolossal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[ˌkolɔˈsaːl]
Letters8
Frequency rank#76,976
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „kolossal“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).kolossalfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Kobane“ (#76,975), „Koalitionsregierung“ (#76,974), „Komparsen“ (#76,978). Unter 4,158 „K“-Lemmata liegt „kolossal“ bei #76,976. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kolossal is uncommon German at frequency #76,976 among 4,158 “K” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [ˌkolɔˈsaːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

kolossal doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

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 kolossal, spelled K-O-L-O-S-S-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    wie ein Koloss
  2. 2
    großartig

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Der Herrscher ließ kolossale Bauwerke errichten.
  2. Der Auftritt war kolossal.

Synonyms

kolossalischriesigmächtiggewaltigbombastischgroßartiggrandiosprachtvollüberwältigend

Antonyms

winziglangweiligunbedeutend

This word in other languages

colossal(English)

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 "kolossal"?
"kolossal" is spelled K-O-L-O-S-S-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [ˌkolɔˈsaːl].
What does "kolossal" mean?
As an adjective, "kolossal" means: wie ein Koloss
How do you pronounce "kolossal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kolossal" is [ˌkolɔˈsaːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "kolossal" come from?
"kolossal" 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 "kolossal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Kandahar#76,949Laetitia#77,005infantil#76,922inaktive#76,919

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list