Liebelei

[liːbəˈlaɪ̯]

/[liːbəˈlaɪ̯]/ noun

The verdict

“Liebelei” is uncommon German (frequency #95,907 among 2,640 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#95,907
frequency rank, German
2,640
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nicht besonders ernsthafte Beziehung, flüchtige Beziehung

Corpus desk

Index DE-liebelei · Liebelei · German

Liebelei · rank #95,907 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #95,907
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,640
  • PHOTO-FINISH liebenswürdig…

Nearest frequency peer: liebenswürdigen (+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 „Liebelei“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Liebelei
PropertyValue
HeadwordLiebelei
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[liːbəˈlaɪ̯]
Letters8
Frequency rank#95,907
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Liebelei“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).Liebeleifällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „liebenswürdigen“ (#95,908), „liebäugeln“ (#95,909), „libra“ (#95,904). Unter 2,640 „L“-Lemmata liegt „Liebelei“ bei #95,907. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Liebelei is uncommon German at frequency #95,907 among 2,640 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [liːbəˈlaɪ̯]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nicht besonders ernsthafte Beziehung, flüchtige Beziehung".

No generated misspelling entries exist for Liebelei in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is Liebelei, spelled L-I-E-B-E-L-E-I.

Definition

  1. 1
    nicht besonders ernsthafte Beziehung, flüchtige Beziehung

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Beiden war klar, dass es nichts Ernstes ist, nur eine kleine Liebelei.
  2. „Unsere Liebelei schaffte es noch nach Tamanrasset.“

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); 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 "Liebelei"?
"Liebelei" is spelled L-I-E-B-E-L-E-I. The IPA pronunciation is [liːbəˈlaɪ̯].
What does "Liebelei" mean?
As a noun, "Liebelei" means: nicht besonders ernsthafte Beziehung, flüchtige Beziehung
How do you pronounce "Liebelei"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Liebelei" is [liːbəˈlaɪ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Liebelei" come from?
"Liebelei" 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 "Liebelei", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list