nachlaufen
[ˈnaːxˌlaʊ̯fn̩]
The verdict
“nachlaufen” is uncommon German (frequency #70,604 among 26,919 “N” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #70,604
- frequency rank, German
- 26,919
- “N” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - jemandem oder etwas, der/das sich entfernt, hinterherlaufen
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | nachlaufen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈnaːxˌlaʊ̯fn̩] |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #70,604 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “nachlaufen” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
nachlaufen is uncommon German at frequency #70,604 among 26,919 “N” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈnaːxˌlaʊ̯fn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for nachlaufen in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is nachlaufen, spelled N-A-C-H-L-A-U-F-E-N.
Definition
- 1jemandem oder etwas, der/das sich entfernt, hinterherlaufen
- 2sich sehr um jemanden bemühen
- 3viel Zeit investieren, um etwas erledigt zu bekommen; sich mehrfach bemühen
- 4nicht korrekt in der Zeit sein, sondern zu langsam gehen
- 5(mehr Flüssigkeit) zulaufen lassen
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
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Using “nachlaufen”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is N-A-C-H-L-A-U-F-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈnaːxˌlaʊ̯fn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Other uncommon German words near this rank
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.