Selbs

[zɛlps]

/[zɛlps]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“Selbs” is uncommon German (frequency #67,695 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#67,695
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Selb

Corpus desk

Index DE-selbs · Selbs · German

Selbs · rank #67,695 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #67,695
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH selbstbestimm…

Nearest frequency peer: selbstbestimmten (+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 „Selbs“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Selbs
PropertyValue
HeadwordSelbs
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[zɛlps]
Letters5
Frequency rank#67,695
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Selbs“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Selbsfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „selbstbestimmten“ (#67,696), „selbsttätig“ (#67,697), „seeds“ (#67,692). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „Selbs“ bei #67,695. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Selbs is uncommon German at frequency #67,695 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [zɛlps]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Selb".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Selbs, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. 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.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Selbs, spelled S-E-L-B-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Selb

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 "Selbs"?
"Selbs" is spelled S-E-L-B-S. The IPA pronunciation is [zɛlps].
What does "Selbs" mean?
As a noun, "Selbs" means: Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Selb
How do you pronounce "Selbs"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Selbs" is [zɛlps]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Selbs" come from?
"Selbs" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "Selbs", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

seeds#67,692Speis#67,719stech#67,735sauge#67,652

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list