retard

[ʁə.taʁ]

/[ʁə.taʁ]/ noun

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

The verdict

“retard” is uncommon German (frequency #89,495 among 2,984 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#89,495
frequency rank, German
2,984
“R” headwords

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

Corpus desk

Index DE-retard · retard · German

retard · rank #89,495 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #89,495
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,984
  • PHOTO-FINISH Ressortleiter

Nearest frequency peer: Ressortleiter (-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 „retard“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for retard
PropertyValue
Headwordretard
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ʁə.taʁ]
Letters6
Frequency rank#89,495
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „retard“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Ressortleiter“ (#89,494), „rettest“ (#89,496), „Rezitation“ (#89,497). Unter 2,984 „R“-Lemmata liegt „retard“ bei #89,495. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

retard is uncommon German at frequency #89,495 among 2,984 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ʁə.taʁ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Verspätung".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for retard, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is retard, spelled R-E-T-A-R-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Verspätung

This word in other languages

delay(English)

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 "retard"?
"retard" is spelled R-E-T-A-R-D. The IPA pronunciation is [ʁə.taʁ].
What does "retard" mean?
As a noun, "retard" means: Verspätung
How do you pronounce "retard"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "retard" is [ʁə.taʁ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "retard" come from?
"retard" 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 "retard", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Sabber#89,514salmon#89,517realem#89,467Rasens#89,460

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list