Schlendrian

[ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn]

/[ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn]/ noun

The verdict

“Schlendrian” is uncommon German (frequency #94,827 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#94,827
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - träges, nachlässiges Arbeitsverhalten, bei dem manches/vieles, was für notwendig erachtet wird, zu kurz kommt

Corpus desk

Index DE-schlendrian · Schlendrian · German

Schlendrian · rank #94,827 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #94,827
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Schlagerstar

Nearest frequency peer: Schlagerstar (-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 „Schlendrian“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Schlendrian
PropertyValue
HeadwordSchlendrian
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn]
Letters11
Frequency rank#94,827
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Schlendrian“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Schlagerstar“ (#94,826), „Schlussbericht“ (#94,828), „Schlussverkauf“ (#94,829). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „Schlendrian“ bei #94,827. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Schlendrian is uncommon German at frequency #94,827 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "träges, nachlässiges Arbeitsverhalten, bei dem manches/vieles, was für notwendig erachtet wird, zu kurz kommt".

No misspelling variants are generated for Schlendrian in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is Schlendrian, spelled S-C-H-L-E-N-D-R-I-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    träges, nachlässiges Arbeitsverhalten, bei dem manches/vieles, was für notwendig erachtet wird, zu kurz kommt

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Dabei war es nur der übliche Schlendrian bei einem von den Behörden nicht richtig beaufsichtigten privaten Stromunternehmen, der das Chaos auslöste.“
  2. „Ein derartiger Schlendrian entzückte sie anfangs, dann aber fanden sie ihn dumm, denn der Verfasser macht sein Werk selber zunichte, wenn er sich mit seiner Person darin breitmacht.“

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 "Schlendrian"?
"Schlendrian" is spelled S-C-H-L-E-N-D-R-I-A-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn].
What does "Schlendrian" mean?
As a noun, "Schlendrian" means: träges, nachlässiges Arbeitsverhalten, bei dem manches/vieles, was für notwendig erachtet wird, zu kurz kommt
How do you pronounce "Schlendrian"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Schlendrian" is [ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Schlendrian" come from?
"Schlendrian" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "Schlendrian", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list