Sprachverfall
German, noun/ˈʃpʁaːxfɛɐ̯ˌfal/
Sprachverfall is spelled S-P-R-A-C-H-V-E-R-F-A-L-L (13 letters) and appears about once in every 40 million words in written German, the 376,420th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Sprachverfall is a German masculine noun meaning “language attrition” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “Verlust wesentlicher Bestandteile einer Sprache”.
What does Sprachverfall mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinelanguage attrition
- 2
informalmasculinelanguage decline (especially from a puristic/conservative perspective)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Verlust wesentlicher Bestandteile einer Sprache
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of Sprachverfall
- Sprachverfalles genitive
- Sprachverfalls genitive
- Sprachverfälle plural
- Sprachverfalle dative singular
- Sprachverfällen dative definite plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Sprachverfall?
- /ˈʃpʁaːxfɛɐ̯ˌfal/
- [ˈʃpʁaːxfɛɐ̯ˌfal]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Sprachverfall in German?
Sprachverfall appears about once in every 40 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).