schmarotzen
[ʃmaˈʁɔt͡sn̩]
The verdict
“schmarotzen” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 11
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - aus Faulheit vom Geld, von der Arbeit anderer leben
Corpus desk
Index DE-schmarotzen · schmarotzen · German
schmarotzen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 11 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | schmarotzen |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ʃmaˈʁɔt͡sn̩] |
| Letters | 11 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „schmarotzen“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
schmarotzen is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed [ʃmaˈʁɔt͡sn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for schmarotzen, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is schmarotzen, spelled S-C-H-M-A-R-O-T-Z-E-N.
Definition
- 1aus Faulheit vom Geld, von der Arbeit anderer leben
- 2(als Organismus) auf oder in anderen Pflanzen oder Tieren leben und so seine Nahrung (zum einseitigen Nutzen) auf deren Kosten gewinnen
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how schmarotzen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
„Also müssen die Firmen, die auf Kosten der ausbildenden Betriebe schmarotzen, zur Kasse gebeten werden.“
„Die Eier des Kleinen Fuchsbandwurms (Echinococcus multilocularis), der zwar im Darm von Füchsen schmarotzt, seinen Wirt aber nicht krank macht, können auch in seinem Balg stecken.“
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.