Realpolitik

[ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]

/[ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]/ noun

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

The verdict

“Realpolitik” is uncommon German (frequency #60,935 among 2,984 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#60,935
frequency rank, German
2,984
“R” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - eng an den als real anerkannten Bedingungen und Möglichkeiten orientierte Politik

Corpus desk

Index DE-realpolitik · Realpolitik · German

Realpolitik · rank #60,935 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #60,935
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,984
  • PHOTO-FINISH Rechenschafts…

Nearest frequency peer: Rechenschaftsbericht (+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 „Realpolitik“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Realpolitik
PropertyValue
HeadwordRealpolitik
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]
Letters11
Frequency rank#60,935
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Realpolitik“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Rechenschaftsbericht“ (#60,936), „Ratsmitgliedern“ (#60,933), „Rapsöl“ (#60,932). Unter 2,984 „R“-Lemmata liegt „Realpolitik“ bei #60,935. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Realpolitik is uncommon German at frequency #60,935 among 2,984 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "eng an den als real anerkannten Bedingungen und Möglichkeiten orientierte Politik".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Realpolitik, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is Realpolitik, spelled R-E-A-L-P-O-L-I-T-I-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    eng an den als real anerkannten Bedingungen und Möglichkeiten orientierte Politik

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Niccolò Machiavelli gilt als bedeutendster Verfechter einer Realpolitik, die sich nicht an religiösen oder ethischen Erwägungen orientiert.
  2. Bei den Grünen gibt es Verfechter einer Realpolitik und auf der anderen Seite die Fundis.

This word in other languages

realpolitik(English)realpolitik(Español)realpolitik(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 "Realpolitik"?
"Realpolitik" is spelled R-E-A-L-P-O-L-I-T-I-K. The IPA pronunciation is [ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk].
What does "Realpolitik" mean?
As a noun, "Realpolitik" means: eng an den als real anerkannten Bedingungen und Möglichkeiten orientierte Politik
How do you pronounce "Realpolitik"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Realpolitik" is [ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Realpolitik" come from?
"Realpolitik" 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 "Realpolitik", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

profilierte#60,921permanentes#60,904Passwörtern#60,901Ortswechsel#60,888

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list