Spätzünder

[ˈʃpɛːtˌt͡sʏndɐ]

/[ˈʃpɛːtˌt͡sʏndɐ]/ noun

The verdict

“Spätzünder” is uncommon German (frequency #97,732 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#97,732
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Person mit verzögerter Entwicklung

Corpus desk

Index DE-spatzunder · Spätzünder · German

Spätzünder · rank #97,732 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #97,732
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Spätzeit

Nearest frequency peer: Spätzeit (-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 „Spätzünder“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Spätzünder
PropertyValue
HeadwordSpätzünder
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ˈʃpɛːtˌt͡sʏndɐ]
Letters10
Frequency rank#97,732
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Spätzünder“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Spätzünderfällt 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: „Spätzeit“ (#97,731), „Spötter“ (#97,733), „spröden“ (#97,730). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „Spätzünder“ bei #97,732. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Spätzünder is uncommon German at frequency #97,732 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈʃpɛːtˌt͡sʏndɐ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for Spätzünder, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct German form is Spätzünder, spelled S-P-Ä-T-Z-Ü-N-D-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Person mit verzögerter Entwicklung
  2. 2
    Person mit langsamer Auffassung

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Im Laufsport sind Spätzünder keine Seltenheit: ‚Unsere Marathonanalysen zeigen, dass über 25 Prozent der befragten Läufer zwischen 50 bis 69 Jahren erst in den letzten fünf Jahren mit regelmäßigem Sport begonnen haben‘, sagt Dieter Leyk, Professor an der Deutschen Sporthochschule Köln.“
  2. „Man lebt vor sich hin, bis einem eines Tages auffällt, dass man ein totaler Spätzünder ist.“

Synonyms

Spätentwickler

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 "Spätzünder"?
"Spätzünder" is spelled S-P-Ä-T-Z-Ü-N-D-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈʃpɛːtˌt͡sʏndɐ].
What does "Spätzünder" mean?
As a noun, "Spätzünder" means: Person mit verzögerter Entwicklung
How do you pronounce "Spätzünder"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Spätzünder" is [ˈʃpɛːtˌt͡sʏndɐ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Spätzünder" come from?
"Spätzünder" 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 "Spätzünder", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list