Mahr

/[maːɐ̯]/ noun

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#63,545

in German word usage

Misspellings

0

tracked variants

Confusables

0

similar word pairs

Mahr is aGermannoun. It means: (früher als Frauengestalt vorgestelltes) Nachtgespenst, das Schlafende quält, indem es sich nachts auf ihre Brust setzt; Alp Pronounced [maːɐ̯].

Key facts for Mahr
PropertyValue
HeadwordMahr
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[maːɐ̯]
Letters4
Frequency rank#63,545
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Mahr in German word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for Mahr is 4 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [maːɐ̯]. Corpus data places it at rank #63,545 in overall German word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

No frequent misspelling variants are recorded for Mahr in our index, suggesting the orthography either follows predictable German patterns or the word is uncommon enough that typo corpora lack signal.It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is Mahr, spelled M-A-H-R, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    (früher als Frauengestalt vorgestelltes) Nachtgespenst, das Schlafende quält, indem es sich nachts auf ihre Brust setzt; Alp
  2. 2
    Mahr lässt sich auf das feminine althochdeutsche mara und das sowohl maskuline als auch feminine mittelhochdeutsche mar oder mare zurückführen. Hierher gehören auch das maskuline (und vielleicht auch feminine) mittelniederdeutsche mār oder māre, das feminine mittelniederländische māre, das ebenfalls feminine altenglische mare ^(→ ang), das englische (night)mare ^(→ en), das feminine altnordische mara ^(→ non) und das schwedische mara ^(→ sv). Verwandte Formen sind das tschechische můra ^(→ cs) ‚Albe‘, die russische Form кикимора (kikimora^☆) ^(→ ru) ‚Gespenst, das nachts aktiv ist; Hausgeist‘, außerdem das serbokroatisch-kirchenslawische mora ‚Hexe‘ und das altirische morīgain oder auch morrīgain ‚Alpkönigin‘. Aus all diesen Formen kann auf ein indoeuropäisches feminines *morā ‚Albe‘ geschlossen werden, das sich mit der Wurzel *mer(ə)- ‚reiben, aufreiben‘ in Verbindung bringen lässt.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Frequency rank: #63,545 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Mahr"?
"Mahr" is spelled M-A-H-R. The IPA pronunciation is [maːɐ̯].
What does "Mahr" mean?
As a noun, "Mahr" means: (früher als Frauengestalt vorgestelltes) Nachtgespenst, das Schlafende quält, indem es sich nachts auf ihre Brust setzt; Alp
How do you pronounce "Mahr"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Mahr" is [maːɐ̯]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Mahr" come from?
"Mahr" 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.

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter M in our German index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.