sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten

[zɪç foːɐ̯ zaɪ̯nəm ˈaɪ̯ɡənən ˈʃatn̩ ˈfʏʁçtn̩]

/[zɪç foːɐ̯ zaɪ̯nəm ˈaɪ̯ɡənən ˈʃatn̩ ˈfʏʁçtn̩]/ phrase

The verdict

“sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten” is outside the top-ranked German vocabulary, used as a phrase - the kind of word writers most often double-check.

Unranked
below top-frequency German
41
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — sehr ängstlich, furchtsam sein

Key facts for sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten
PropertyValue
Headwordsich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten
LanguageGerman
Part of speechPhrase
IPA[zɪç foːɐ̯ zaɪ̯nəm ˈaɪ̯ɡənən ˈʃatn̩ ˈfʏʁçtn̩]
Letters41
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten” sits in German frequency

sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten falls outside the top-100,000 ranked German words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The German entry for sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten is 41 letters long, classified as a phrase, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [zɪç foːɐ̯ zaɪ̯nəm ˈaɪ̯ɡənən ˈʃatn̩ ˈfʏʁçtn̩]. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "sehr ängstlich, furchtsam sein".

No misspelling variants are generated for sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct German form is sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten, spelled S-I-C-H- -V-O-R- -S-E-I-N-E-M- -E-I-G-E-N-E-N- -S-C-H-A-T-T-E-N- -F-Ü-R-C-H-T-E-N, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    sehr ängstlich, furchtsam sein

Antonyms

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.

Cite this page

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:

PlainSpell, “sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten, German word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/de/wort/sich-vor-seinem-eigenen-schatten-furchten

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten"?
"sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten" is spelled S-I-C-H- -V-O-R- -S-E-I-N-E-M- -E-I-G-E-N-E-N- -S-C-H-A-T-T-E-N- -F-Ü-R-C-H-T-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [zɪç foːɐ̯ zaɪ̯nəm ˈaɪ̯ɡənən ˈʃatn̩ ˈfʏʁçtn̩].
What does "sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten" mean?
As a phrase, "sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten" means: sehr ängstlich, furchtsam sein
How do you pronounce "sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten" is [zɪç foːɐ̯ zaɪ̯nəm ˈaɪ̯ɡənən ˈʃatn̩ ˈfʏʁçtn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten" come from?
"sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Using “sich vor seinem eigenen Schatten fürchten”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct German spelling is S-I-C-H- -V-O-R- -S-E-I-N-E-M- -E-I-G-E-N-E-N- -S-C-H-A-T-T-E-N- -F-Ü-R-C-H-T-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [zɪç foːɐ̯ zaɪ̯nəm ˈaɪ̯ɡənən ˈʃatn̩ ˈfʏʁçtn̩] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words

Nearby German words

Other entries that begin with the letter S in our German index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list