terrible

[…]

/[…]/ adj

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

The verdict

“terrible” is uncommon German (frequency #61,094 among 2,684 “T” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,094
frequency rank, German
2,684
“T” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - erschreckend, schrecklich, grausam, furchtbar

Corpus desk

Index DE-terrible · terrible · German

terrible · rank #61,094 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,094
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,684
  • PHOTO-FINISH testo

Nearest frequency peer: testo (+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 „terrible“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for terrible
PropertyValue
Headwordterrible
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[…]
Letters8
Frequency rank#61,094
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „terrible“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „testo“ (#61,095), „tendenziös“ (#61,092), „Textstellen“ (#61,096). Unter 2,684 „T“-Lemmata liegt „terrible“ bei #61,094. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

terrible is uncommon German at frequency #61,094 among 2,684 “T” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed […]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "erschreckend, schrecklich, grausam, furchtbar".

terrible doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, 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 terrible, spelled T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    erschreckend, schrecklich, grausam, furchtbar

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. He lives in terrible conditions.

Antonyms

peachy

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 "terrible"?
"terrible" is spelled T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "terrible" mean?
As an adjective, "terrible" means: erschreckend, schrecklich, grausam, furchtbar
How do you pronounce "terrible"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "terrible" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "terrible" come from?
"terrible" 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 "terrible", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Taubheit#61,089thoughts#61,100Söldnern#61,081Traumtor#61,109

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list