Polarstern

[poˈlaːɐ̯ˌʃtɛʁn]

/[poˈlaːɐ̯ˌʃtɛʁn]/ name

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

The verdict

“Polarstern” is uncommon German (frequency #73,895 among 3,409 “P” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#73,895
frequency rank, German
3,409
“P” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - hellster Stern im Sternbild Kleiner Bär

Corpus desk

Index DE-polarstern · Polarstern · German

Polarstern · rank #73,895 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #73,895
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,409
  • PHOTO-FINISH plunder

Nearest frequency peer: plunder (-2 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 „Polarstern“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Polarstern
PropertyValue
HeadwordPolarstern
LanguageGerman
Part of speechProper noun
IPA[poˈlaːɐ̯ˌʃtɛʁn]
Letters10
Frequency rank#73,895
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Polarstern“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Polarsternfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „plunder“ (#73,893), „posttraumatischen“ (#73,897), „plauderte“ (#73,892). Unter 3,409 „P“-Lemmata liegt „Polarstern“ bei #73,895. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Polarstern is uncommon German at frequency #73,895 among 3,409 “P” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed [poˈlaːɐ̯ˌʃtɛʁn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "hellster Stern im Sternbild Kleiner Bär".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for Polarstern, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Polarstern, spelled P-O-L-A-R-S-T-E-R-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    hellster Stern im Sternbild Kleiner Bär

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. …, dort steht ein Stern, der sich nicht sonderlich bewegt, und der Angelstern oder Polarstern heißt, …
  2. Mit Hilfe des Großen Wagens kann man den Polarstern und damit den nördlichen Himmelspol leicht finden.

Synonyms

AngelsternNordsternPolarisStella Polaris

This word in other languages

North Star(English)étoile Polaire(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 "Polarstern"?
"Polarstern" is spelled P-O-L-A-R-S-T-E-R-N. The IPA pronunciation is [poˈlaːɐ̯ˌʃtɛʁn].
What does "Polarstern" mean?
As a proper noun, "Polarstern" means: hellster Stern im Sternbild Kleiner Bär
How do you pronounce "Polarstern"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Polarstern" is [poˈlaːɐ̯ˌʃtɛʁn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Polarstern" come from?
"Polarstern" 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 "Polarstern", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Platzwunde#73,891Papiertüte#73,869Palliative#73,867Reisepässe#73,938

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list