sterile

Name: sterile, German Word Data
Creator: Wiktionary
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

[ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]

/[ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]/ adj

By PlainSpell · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) · analyzed May 6, 2026

The verdict

“sterile” is uncommon German (frequency #54,916 among 107,600 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,916
frequency rank, German: 107,600
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril

Key facts for sterile
Property	Value
Headword	sterile
Language	German
Part of speech	Adjective
IPA	[ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]
Letters	7
Frequency rank	#54,916
Misspellings tracked	0
Confusable pairs	0
Source	Wiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sterile” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). sterile lands here:

#54,916

#1#100#1K#10K#100K

← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sterile is uncommon German at frequency #54,916 among 107,600 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 9 senses are on record.

No misspelling variants are generated for sterile in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. 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.

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 sterile, spelled S-T-E-R-I-L-E.

Definition

1
Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
2
Akkusativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
3
Nominativ Plural alle Genera der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
4
Akkusativ Plural alle Genera der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
5
Nominativ Singular alle Genera der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
6
Akkusativ Singular Femininum der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
7
Akkusativ Singular Neutrum der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
8
Nominativ Singular Femininum der gemischten Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
9
Akkusativ Singular Femininum der gemischten Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril

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 "sterile"?

"sterile" is spelled S-T-E-R-I-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is [ˌʃteˈʁiːlə].

What does "sterile" mean?

As an adjective, "sterile" means: Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril

How do you pronounce "sterile"?

The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sterile" is [ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.

What language does "sterile" come from?

"sterile" 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.

Using “sterile”

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

The one correct German spelling is S-T-E-R-I-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Say it as [ˌʃteˈʁiːlə] (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

Other uncommon German words near this rank

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.