sterile

[ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]

/[ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“sterile” is uncommon German (frequency #54,916 among 8,027 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,916
frequency rank, German
8,027
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril

Corpus desk

Index DE-sterile · sterile · German

sterile · rank #54,916 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,916
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,027
  • PHOTO-FINISH Steinweg

Nearest frequency peer: Steinweg (-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 „sterile“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sterile
PropertyValue
Headwordsterile
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[ˌʃteˈʁiːlə]
Letters7
Frequency rank#54,916
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „sterile“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).sterilefällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Steinweg“ (#54,915), „Sternschnuppe“ (#54,917), „Staufer“ (#54,914). Unter 8,027 „S“-Lemmata liegt „sterile“ bei #54,916. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sterile is uncommon German at frequency #54,916 among 8,027 “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. 1
    Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  2. 2
    Akkusativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  3. 3
    Nominativ Plural alle Genera der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  4. 4
    Akkusativ Plural alle Genera der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  5. 5
    Nominativ Singular alle Genera der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  6. 6
    Akkusativ Singular Femininum der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  7. 7
    Akkusativ Singular Neutrum der schwachen Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  8. 8
    Nominativ Singular Femininum der gemischten Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs steril
  9. 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.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sterile", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Staufer#54,914Stromer#54,926Stängel#54,931tanzend#54,936

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list