Steampunk

[…]

/[…]/ noun

The verdict

“Steampunk” is uncommon German (frequency #70,834 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#70,834
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Subgenre der Science-Fiction, für das retrofuturistische, mit Dampf betriebene Apparate und Maschinen, sowie Elemente der viktorianischen Ära charakteristisch sind

Corpus desk

Index DE-steampunk · Steampunk · German

Steampunk · rank #70,834 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #70,834
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Steinbrüchen

Nearest frequency peer: Steinbrüchen (+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 „Steampunk“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for Steampunk
PropertyValue
HeadwordSteampunk
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[…]
Letters9
Frequency rank#70,834
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „Steampunk“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Steampunkfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Steinbrüchen“ (#70,835), „Staffelei“ (#70,832), „Stadtstaat“ (#70,831). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „Steampunk“ bei #70,834. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Steampunk is uncommon German at frequency #70,834 among 8,027 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Subgenre der Science-Fiction, für das retrofuturistische, mit Dampf betriebene Apparate und Maschinen, sowie Elemente der viktorianischen Ära charakteristisch sind".

Steampunk has no tracked misspelling variants, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable German rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is Steampunk, spelled S-T-E-A-M-P-U-N-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    Subgenre der Science-Fiction, für das retrofuturistische, mit Dampf betriebene Apparate und Maschinen, sowie Elemente der viktorianischen Ära charakteristisch sind

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Jules Verne und der Wilde Westen sind wichtige Inspirationsquellen für Steampunk.

This word in other languages

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 "Steampunk"?
"Steampunk" is spelled S-T-E-A-M-P-U-N-K. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "Steampunk" mean?
As a noun, "Steampunk" means: Subgenre der Science-Fiction, für das retrofuturistische, mit Dampf betriebene Apparate und Maschinen, sowie Elemente der viktorianischen Ära charakteristisch sind
How do you pronounce "Steampunk"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Steampunk" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Steampunk" come from?
"Steampunk" 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 "Steampunk", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list