Schlamassel
German, noun[ʃlaˈmasəl]
Schlamassel is spelled S-C-H-L-A-M-A-S-S-E-L (11 letters) and appears about once in every 1 million words in written German, the 43,091st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schlamassel is a German masculine noun meaning “trouble, difficult situation, misfortune” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “schwierige, (zunächst) ausweglos scheinende Situation, in die jemand wegen eines leidigen Missgeschicks…”.
What does Schlamassel mean in English?
noun
- 1
colloquialmasculineneutertrouble, difficult situation, misfortune
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. schwierige, (zunächst) ausweglos scheinende Situation, in die jemand wegen eines leidigen Missgeschicks gerät; hinderliche Umstände; Unglück
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 Schlamassel
- Schlamassels genitive
- Schlamasseln dative definite plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Schlamassel?
- [ʃlaˈmasəl]
- [ʃlaˈmasl̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Schlamassel in German?
Schlamassel appears about once in every 1 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).