schief
German, adjective/ʃiːf/
schief is spelled S-C-H-I-E-F (6 letters) and appears 18 times per million words in written German, the 4,267th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schief is a German adjective meaning “skew, oblique, askew, leaning, slanting, aslant, inclined (neither parallel nor perpendicular)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “weder parallel zur Lotlinie, noch zur Waagerechten; nicht parallel zu einer relevanten Linie oder Ebene”.
What does schief mean in English?
adjective
- 1
skew, oblique, askew, leaning, slanting, aslant, inclined (neither parallel nor perpendicular)
- 2
slopy, sloping (characterised by a slope or slopes)
- 3
crooked, awry (set at an angle; not vertical or square)
- 4
lopsided (not even or balanced; not the same on one side as on the other)
- 5
wry (turned away, contorted)
- 6
distorted (misshapen; brought out of shape)
- 7
worn (damaged and shabby as a result of much use)
- 8
inappropriate (not suitable for the situation, time, or place)
adverb
- 1
crookedly, at an angle
- 2
lopsidedly
- 3
askance (sideways; obliquely)
- 4
badly, wrong (in a way that isn't right)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. weder parallel zur Lotlinie, noch zur Waagerechten; nicht parallel zu einer relevanten Linie oder Ebene 2. nicht gerade, leicht verwachsen 3. Argumente/Fakten nur zum Teil berücksichtigend 4. falsch, einen Ton nicht treffend
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 schief
- schiefer masculine nominative singular
- am schiefsten superlative
- schiefe feminine nominative singular
- schiefes neuter nominative singular
- schiefen genitive masculine singular
- schiefem dative masculine singular
- der schiefe definite includes-article masculine
- die schiefe definite feminine includes-article
- das schiefe definite includes-article neuter
- die schiefen definite includes-article nominative
- des schiefen definite genitive includes-article
- der schiefen definite feminine genitive
- dem schiefen dative definite includes-article
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce schief?
- /ʃiːf/
- standard /ʃiːf-/
- /ʃiːv-/
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to schief
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is schief in German?
schief appears 18 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).