rien

[ʁjɛ̃]

/[ʁjɛ̃]/ noun

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

The verdict

“rien” is uncommon German (frequency #54,028 among 2,984 “R” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,028
frequency rank, German
2,984
“R” headwords

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

Corpus desk

Index DE-rien · rien · German

rien · rank #54,028 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,028
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,984
  • PHOTO-FINISH rim

Nearest frequency peer: rim (+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 „rien“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for rien
PropertyValue
Headwordrien
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ʁjɛ̃]
Letters4
Frequency rank#54,028
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „rien“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „rim“ (#54,029), „Rhys“ (#54,026), „Rettich“ (#54,025). Unter 2,984 „R“-Lemmata liegt „rien“ bei #54,028. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

rien is uncommon German at frequency #54,028 among 2,984 “R” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ʁjɛ̃]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "nichts".

Zero misspellings are on record for rien in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is rien, spelled R-I-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    nichts

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Non, je ne regrette rien.

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Rhys#54,026SATA#54,050peso#53,977Niet#53,943

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list