senil

[zeˈniːl]

/[zeˈniːl]/ adj

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

The verdict

“senil” is uncommon German (frequency #83,293 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#83,293
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - aufgrund des Alters in seinen geistigen Möglichkeiten beschränkt

Corpus desk

Index DE-senil · senil · German

senil · rank #83,293 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #83,293
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH sensationelles

Nearest frequency peer: sensationelles (+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 „senil“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for senil
PropertyValue
Headwordsenil
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[zeˈniːl]
Letters5
Frequency rank#83,293
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „senil“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „sensationelles“ (#83,294), „selbsternannter“ (#83,291), „Seraph“ (#83,295). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „senil“ bei #83,293. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

senil is uncommon German at frequency #83,293 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [zeˈniːl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

senil doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is senil, spelled S-E-N-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    aufgrund des Alters in seinen geistigen Möglichkeiten beschränkt
  2. 2
    das hohe Alter betreffend
  3. 3
    altersgeistesschwach

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Herr M. war schon etwas senil und begriff den Ernst der Lage nicht.
  2. Vielleicht war er seniler, als ich dachte, und konnte sich gar nicht mehr erinnern.

Antonyms

juvenil

This word in other languages

senile(English)senil(Español)sénile(Français)

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 "senil"?
"senil" is spelled S-E-N-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is [zeˈniːl].
What does "senil" mean?
As an adjective, "senil" means: aufgrund des Alters in seinen geistigen Möglichkeiten beschränkt
How do you pronounce "senil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "senil" is [zeˈniːl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "senil" come from?
"senil" 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 "senil", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

sheep#83,298sonen#83,310stato#83,333stink#83,346

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list