Pessimist

[pɛsiˈmɪst]

/[pɛsiˈmɪst]/ noun

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

The verdict

“Pessimist” is uncommon German (frequency #63,639 among 3,409 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#63,639
frequency rank, German
3,409
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - pessimistisch denkender Mensch; Mensch, der eine negative Einstellung zum Leben hat

Corpus desk

Index DE-pessimist · Pessimist · German

Pessimist · rank #63,639 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #63,639
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,409
  • PHOTO-FINISH Personenkult

Nearest frequency peer: Personenkult (-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 „Pessimist“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Pessimist
PropertyValue
HeadwordPessimist
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[pɛsiˈmɪst]
Letters9
Frequency rank#63,639
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Pessimist“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.Pessimistfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Personenkult“ (#63,638), „Pensionskasse“ (#63,637), „pennt“ (#63,636). Unter 3,409 „P“-Lemmata liegt „Pessimist“ bei #63,639. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Pessimist is uncommon German at frequency #63,639 among 3,409 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [pɛsiˈmɪst]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "pessimistisch denkender Mensch; Mensch, der eine negative Einstellung zum Leben hat".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Pessimist, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is Pessimist, spelled P-E-S-S-I-M-I-S-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    pessimistisch denkender Mensch; Mensch, der eine negative Einstellung zum Leben hat

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Du bist unverbesserlicher Pessimist. Lächle doch einmal!
  2. „George, mit dem ich in den letzten zwei Jahren schon viele tiefsinnige Gespräche über Leben und Tod, Gott und die Welt, Geld, Familie, Freundschaft und Gerechtigkeit geführt hatte, war ein eingefleischter Pessimist.“

Synonyms

FatalistMiesmacherRunzelkopfSchwarzmalerSchwarzseherDefätist

Antonyms

Optimist

This word in other languages

pessimist(English)pesimista(Español)pessimiste(Français)pessimista(Português)

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 "Pessimist"?
"Pessimist" is spelled P-E-S-S-I-M-I-S-T. The IPA pronunciation is [pɛsiˈmɪst].
What does "Pessimist" mean?
As a noun, "Pessimist" means: pessimistisch denkender Mensch; Mensch, der eine negative Einstellung zum Leben hat
How do you pronounce "Pessimist"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Pessimist" is [pɛsiˈmɪst]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Pessimist" come from?
"Pessimist" 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Pessimist", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Ostseebad#63,623Nordlicht#63,603Neulingen#63,593nachhaken#63,583

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list