pleite
German, adjective
pleite is spelled P-L-E-I-T-E (6 letters) and appears 14 times per million words in written German, the 5,161st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Pleite is a German adjective meaning “broke” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Pleite is a different word: “bankruptcy”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “(als Geschäftsmann, Firma) illiquid, finanziell ruiniert, zahlungsunfähig”.
What does pleite mean in English?
adjective
- 1
colloquialbroke
pleite sein
noun
- 1
colloquialfemininebankruptcy
- 2
colloquialfeminineflop, failure
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Unfähigkeit, die Kosten für finanzielle Verpflichtungen zu bestreiten 2. (unvorhergesehen, überraschend) enttäuschender, negativer Ausgang einer Unternehmung oder Ähnlichem
adjective: 1. (als Geschäftsmann, Firma) illiquid, finanziell ruiniert, zahlungsunfähig 2. derzeit kein bares Geld besitzend; nur für eine gewisse Zeit mittellos
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of pleite
- Pleiten plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to pleite
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is pleite in German?
pleite appears 14 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).