Staffage
German, noun/ʃtaˈfaːʒə/
Staffage is spelled S-T-A-F-F-A-G-E (8 letters) and appears about once in every 6 million words in written German, the 121,881st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Staffage is a German feminine noun meaning “staffage (people and animals represented in a landscape painting)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “Beiwerk oder Nebensächliches”.
What does Staffage mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininestaffage (people and animals represented in a landscape painting)
- 2
derogatoryfeminineextra, decoration
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Beiwerk oder Nebensächliches 2. Menschen oder Tiere als nebensächliche, belebende Elemente eines Landschafts- oder Architekturgemäldes, die helfen, Größenverhältnisse und Raumtiefe zu verdeutlichen 3. als Blickfang malerisch in die Landschaft gesetztes kleines Bauwerk 4. Elemente, die neben der reinen Darstellung des Architekturkörpers hinzugesetzt werden, um beispielsweise als Vergleichsmaßstab zu dienen oder die Szene zu beleben
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 Staffage
- Staffagen plural uncommon
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Staffage?
- /ʃtaˈfaːʒə/
- [ʃtaˈfaːʒə]
- [staˈfaːʒɛ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Staffage in German?
Staffage appears about once in every 6 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).