postum
[pɔsˈtuːm]
The verdict
“postum” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - nach jemandes Tod erfolgend, nachträglich geschehend
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | postum |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [pɔsˈtuːm] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “postum” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
postum is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed [pɔsˈtuːm]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nach jemandes Tod erfolgend, nachträglich geschehend".
Zero misspellings are on record for postum in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is postum, spelled P-O-S-T-U-M.
Definition
- 1nach jemandes Tod erfolgend, nachträglich geschehend
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “postum”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is P-O-S-T-U-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [pɔsˈtuːm] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.