nicht

/[nɪçt]/ particle

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#8

in German word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

nicht is aGermanparticle. It means: Partikel, die die Verneinung, die Negierung beziehungsweise die Negation ausdrückt Pronounced [nɪçt]. It ranks #8 in German word frequency. Often confused with nit and noch.

Key facts for nicht
PropertyValue
Headwordnicht
LanguageGerman
Part of speechParticle
IPA[nɪçt]
Letters5
Frequency rank#8
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

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

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for nicht is 5 letters long, classified as aparticle, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [nɪçt]. Corpus data places it at rank #8 in overall German word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for nicht, with forms such as "incht", "nciht", and "niccht". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "nit", "noch", "nick", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

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 nicht, spelled N-I-C-H-T, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Partikel, die die Verneinung, die Negierung beziehungsweise die Negation ausdrückt
  2. 2
    Negation, Negator
  3. 3
    den Sinn nicht verändernde Partikel in Sätzen oder Satzteilen (Nebensätzen), die schon anders als durch das Wort „nicht“ funktional negiert sind

Antonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: incht,nciht,niccht,nichht,nichtt,nicth,nihct,nnicht

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for nicht

Misspelling Variants of "nicht"

incht5nciht5niccht6nichht6nichtt6nicth5nihct5nnicht6
Misspelling Variants of "nicht"

Frequency rank: #8 in German

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "nicht"?
"nicht" is spelled N-I-C-H-T. The IPA pronunciation is [nɪçt].
What does "nicht" mean?
As a particle, "nicht" means: Partikel, die die Verneinung, die Negierung beziehungsweise die Negation ausdrückt
What words are commonly confused with "nicht"?
"nicht" is commonly confused with "nit", "noch", "nick". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "nicht"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "nicht" is [nɪçt]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "nicht" come from?
"nicht" 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 N in our German index:

Explore PlainSpell

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