Nasal

[naˈzaːl]

/[naˈzaːl]/ noun

The verdict

“Nasal” is uncommon German (frequency #97,438 among 1,954 “N” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#97,438
frequency rank, German
1,954
“N” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nasaler Konsonant oder Vokal, bei dem der Luftstrom ganz oder teilweise über den Nasenraum entweicht

Corpus desk

Index DE-nasal · Nasal · German

Nasal · rank #97,438 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #97,438
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,954
  • PHOTO-FINISH Nasenbein

Nearest frequency peer: Nasenbein (+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 „Nasal“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Nasal
PropertyValue
HeadwordNasal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[naˈzaːl]
Letters5
Frequency rank#97,438
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Nasal“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Nasalfällt 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: „Nasenbein“ (#97,439), „nautische“ (#97,440), „Nachweises“ (#97,435). Unter 1,954 „N“-Lemmata liegt „Nasal“ bei #97,438. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Nasal is uncommon German at frequency #97,438 among 1,954 “N” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [naˈzaːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nasaler Konsonant oder Vokal, bei dem der Luftstrom ganz oder teilweise über den Nasenraum entweicht".

Nasal doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, 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 Nasal, spelled N-A-S-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    nasaler Konsonant oder Vokal, bei dem der Luftstrom ganz oder teilweise über den Nasenraum entweicht

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Im Deutschen sind alle Nasale Nasalkonsonanten; Nasalvokale kommen nur in Fremdwörtern vor (z.B.: "Balkon" [balkɔ̃]). Die deutschen Nasale sind: [m], [n] und [ŋ] (wie in "sang" [zaŋ]).
  2. „Schließlich können die Nasale und Liquiden die Rolle eines Vokals übernehmen und silben tragen; man bezeichnet sie in dieser Funktion durch den indogermanischen Ablaut bestimmten Funktion als nasales beziehungsweise liquidae sonantes oder kurz als Sonanten (geschrieben m̩, n̩, r̩, l̩).“

Synonyms

Antonyms

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 "Nasal"?
"Nasal" is spelled N-A-S-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is [naˈzaːl].
What does "Nasal" mean?
As a noun, "Nasal" means: nasaler Konsonant oder Vokal, bei dem der Luftstrom ganz oder teilweise über den Nasenraum entweicht
How do you pronounce "Nasal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Nasal" is [naˈzaːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Nasal" come from?
"Nasal" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "Nasal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list