Teufelskerl
[ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩sˌkɛʁl]
The verdict
“Teufelskerl” is uncommon German (frequency #82,212 among 35,386 “T” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #82,212
- frequency rank, German
- 35,386
- “T” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Mann oder Junge, der durch Eigenschaften beeindruckt, die man auch dem Teufel zuschreibt: Wagemut, Frechheit, Unberechenbarkeit, Geschicklichkeit, Rücksichtslosigkeit, Tücke usw., oder durch dem en...
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Teufelskerl |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩sˌkɛʁl] |
| Letters | 11 |
| Frequency rank | #82,212 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Teufelskerl” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Teufelskerl is uncommon German at frequency #82,212 among 35,386 “T” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩sˌkɛʁl]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Mann oder Junge, der durch Eigenschaften beeindruckt, die man auch dem Teufel zuschreibt: Wagemut, Frechheit, Unberechenbarkeit, Geschicklichkeit, Rücksichtslosigkeit, Tücke usw., oder durch dem en...".
Teufelskerl has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct German form is Teufelskerl, spelled T-E-U-F-E-L-S-K-E-R-L.
Definition
- 1Mann oder Junge, der durch Eigenschaften beeindruckt, die man auch dem Teufel zuschreibt: Wagemut, Frechheit, Unberechenbarkeit, Geschicklichkeit, Rücksichtslosigkeit, Tücke usw., oder durch dem entsprechende Handlungen.
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
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Using “Teufelskerl”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is T-E-U-F-E-L-S-K-E-R-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈtɔɪ̯fl̩sˌkɛʁl] (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.