Schibboleth
German, noun[ˌʃɪˈboːlɛt]
Schibboleth is spelled S-C-H-I-B-B-O-L-E-T-H (11 letters) and appears about once in every 59 million words in written German, the 470,264th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schibboleth is a German neuter noun meaning “shibboleth” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “(verabredetes) Zeichen, das zur Erkennung von jemandem oder etwas dienen soll; einzelnes Wort als Losung…”.
What does Schibboleth mean in English?
noun
- 1
neutershibboleth
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. (verabredetes) Zeichen, das zur Erkennung von jemandem oder etwas dienen soll; einzelnes Wort als Losung; charakteristisches, unterscheidendes Zeichen, an dem eine Person/Personengruppe oder Sache (deutlich) zu erkennen ist 2. spezifisches sprachliches Merkmal, mit dem ein jeweiliger Sprecher eindeutig (regional, sozial oder dergleichen) zugeordnet werden kann
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of Schibboleth
- Schibboleths genitive
- Schibbolethe plural
- Schibbolethen dative definite plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Schibboleth?
- [ˌʃɪˈboːlɛt]
- [ˈʃiːbolɛt]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to Schibboleth
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is Schibboleth in German?
Schibboleth appears about once in every 59 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).