orphan

[ˈɔːfn]

/[ˈɔːfn]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“orphan” is uncommon German (frequency #70,641 among 1,007 “O” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,641
frequency rank, German
1,007
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - eine (minderjährige) Person, deren Eltern (im seltenen Sprachgebrauch auch nur ein Elternteil) gestorben sind

Corpus desk

Index DE-orphan · orphan · German

orphan · rank #70,641 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,641
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,007
  • PHOTO-FINISH Orgelbauer

Nearest frequency peer: Orgelbauer (-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 „orphan“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for orphan
PropertyValue
Headwordorphan
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈɔːfn]
Letters6
Frequency rank#70,641
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „orphan“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Orgelbauer“ (#70,640), „Opernsänger“ (#70,639), „ortet“ (#70,643). Unter 1,007 „O“-Lemmata liegt „orphan“ bei #70,641. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

orphan is uncommon German at frequency #70,641 among 1,007 “O” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈɔːfn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

orphan has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology 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 orphan, spelled O-R-P-H-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    eine (minderjährige) Person, deren Eltern (im seltenen Sprachgebrauch auch nur ein Elternteil) gestorben sind
  2. 2
    ein junges mutterloses Tier
  3. 3
    eine alleinstehende Zeile am Ende einer Druckseite, die gleichzeitig die erste Zeile eines neuen Absatzes ist

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 "orphan"?
"orphan" is spelled O-R-P-H-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈɔːfn].
What does "orphan" mean?
As a noun, "orphan" means: eine (minderjährige) Person, deren Eltern (im seltenen Sprachgebrauch auch nur ein Elternteil) gestorben sind
How do you pronounce "orphan"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "orphan" is [ˈɔːfn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "orphan" come from?
"orphan" 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 "orphan", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Ninive#70,625reding#70,707reebok#70,710Reisig#70,723

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list