-lein
[laɪ̯n]
The verdict
“-lein” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a suffix. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Wortbildungselement der Verkleinerung, Bestandteil von Diminutivformen; im Gebrauch im Norddeutschen kaum, im Mitteldeutschen indifferent und oft im Wechsel mit -chen und im Süddeutschen am häufigsten
Corpus desk
Index DE-lein · -lein · German
-lein · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "-" 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 | -lein |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Suffix |
| IPA | [laɪ̯n] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Wo “-lein” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt
Rare enough to double-check
-lein is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as asuffix, transcribed [laɪ̯n]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Wortbildungselement der Verkleinerung, Bestandteil von Diminutivformen; im Gebrauch im Norddeutschen kaum, im Mitteldeutschen indifferent und oft im Wechsel mit -chen und im Süddeutschen am häufigsten".
-lein has no tracked misspelling variants, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is -lein, spelled --L-E-I-N.
Definition
- 1Wortbildungselement der Verkleinerung, Bestandteil von Diminutivformen; im Gebrauch im Norddeutschen kaum, im Mitteldeutschen indifferent und oft im Wechsel mit -chen und im Süddeutschen am häufigsten
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how -lein appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Im Häuslein steht ein Tischlein mit einem Lämplein darauf.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.