Philister

[fiˈlɪstɐ]

/[fiˈlɪstɐ]/ noun

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

The verdict

“Philister” is uncommon German (frequency #78,398 among 3,409 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,398
frequency rank, German
3,409
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - kleinlicher Mensch

Corpus desk

Index DE-philister · Philister · German

Philister · rank #78,398 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,398
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,409
  • PHOTO-FINISH Pharmakonzerne

Nearest frequency peer: Pharmakonzerne (-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 „Philister“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Philister
PropertyValue
HeadwordPhilister
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[fiˈlɪstɐ]
Letters9
Frequency rank#78,398
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Philister“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Pharmakonzerne“ (#78,397), „Photon“ (#78,399), „pflückt“ (#78,396). Unter 3,409 „P“-Lemmata liegt „Philister“ bei #78,398. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Philister is uncommon German at frequency #78,398 among 3,409 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [fiˈlɪstɐ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for Philister in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is Philister, spelled P-H-I-L-I-S-T-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    kleinlicher Mensch
  2. 2
    nichtstudierte Person, Nichtakademiker
  3. 3
    historisches Nachbarvolk der Israeliten

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Als Nachbar war er Philister, der jeden Zweig, der über den Zaun wuchs, sauber entfernte.
  2. „Die frühe Veranlagung zum Philister erwies sich als bestimmend für seinen Lebenslauf, der ja bei Erreichung seines bürgerlichen, nicht künstlerischen, Ziels aufhört, einer zu sein.“

Synonyms

Spießbürger

This word in other languages

philistine(English)philistin(Français)

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 "Philister"?
"Philister" is spelled P-H-I-L-I-S-T-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [fiˈlɪstɐ].
What does "Philister" mean?
As a noun, "Philister" means: kleinlicher Mensch
How do you pronounce "Philister"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Philister" is [fiˈlɪstɐ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Philister" come from?
"Philister" 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 "Philister", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

planschen#78,405Passspiel#78,382Parklücke#78,377packendes#78,373

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list