Schlendrian
German, noun/ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn/
Schlendrian is spelled S-C-H-L-E-N-D-R-I-A-N (11 letters) and appears about once in every 4 million words in written German, the 94,067th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Schlendrian is a German masculine noun meaning “inefficiency, sloppiness” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “träges, nachlässiges Arbeitsverhalten, bei dem manches/vieles, was für notwendig erachtet wird, zu kurz kommt”.
What does Schlendrian mean in English?
noun
- 1
colloquialderogatorymasculineinefficiency, sloppiness
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. träges, nachlässiges Arbeitsverhalten, bei dem manches/vieles, was für notwendig erachtet wird, zu kurz kommt
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 Schlendrian
- Schlendrians genitive
- Schlenderjan alternative
- Schlenderjahn alternative
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Schlendrian?
- /ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn/
- [ˈʃlɛndʁiaːn]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Schlendrian in German?
Schlendrian appears about once in every 4 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).