kritzeln

[ˈkʁɪt͡sl̩n]

/[ˈkʁɪt͡sl̩n]/ verb

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

The verdict

“kritzeln” is uncommon German (frequency #91,848 among 4,158 “K” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#91,848
frequency rank, German
4,158
“K” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - etwas in kurzer Zeit und mit schlechter Qualität schreiben, malen oder zeichnen

Corpus desk

Index DE-kritzeln · kritzeln · German

kritzeln · rank #91,848 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #91,848
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,158
  • PHOTO-FINISH kränklich

Nearest frequency peer: kränklich (+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 „kritzeln“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for kritzeln
PropertyValue
Headwordkritzeln
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈkʁɪt͡sl̩n]
Letters8
Frequency rank#91,848
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „kritzeln“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.kritzelnfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „kränklich“ (#91,849), „Krisenregionen“ (#91,846), „Kräuterbutter“ (#91,850). Unter 4,158 „K“-Lemmata liegt „kritzeln“ bei #91,848. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

kritzeln is uncommon German at frequency #91,848 among 4,158 “K” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈkʁɪt͡sl̩n]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "etwas in kurzer Zeit und mit schlechter Qualität schreiben, malen oder zeichnen".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for kritzeln, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is kritzeln, spelled K-R-I-T-Z-E-L-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas in kurzer Zeit und mit schlechter Qualität schreiben, malen oder zeichnen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Was hast du denn auf dieses Blatt gekritzelt?
  2. Er kritzelte eine Nachricht an seine Tür.

Synonyms

schmierenkrakeln

Antonyms

malenzeichnen

This word in other languages

doodle(English)garabatear(Español)griffonner(Français)

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 "kritzeln"?
"kritzeln" is spelled K-R-I-T-Z-E-L-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈkʁɪt͡sl̩n].
What does "kritzeln" mean?
As a verb, "kritzeln" means: etwas in kurzer Zeit und mit schlechter Qualität schreiben, malen oder zeichnen
How do you pronounce "kritzeln"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "kritzeln" is [ˈkʁɪt͡sl̩n]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "kritzeln" come from?
"kritzeln" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "kritzeln", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

kurvigen#91,861Klamotte#91,816Leonding#91,887Kasachen#91,800

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list