trotz
German, preposition
trotz is spelled T-R-O-T-Z (5 letters) and appears 141 times per million words in written German, the 622nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Trotz is a German preposition meaning “in spite of, despite” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a second-person singular imperative of trotzen. With a capital, Trotz is a different word: “defiance”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “ungeachtet eines bestimmten Umstandes; ohne Rücksicht auf etwas; einer Sache zum Trotz”.
What does trotz mean in English?
preposition
- 1
in spite of, despite
Trotz aller Bemühungen ist es uns nicht gelungen, die Ziele des Projekts zu erreichen.
verb
- 1
second-person singular imperative of trotzen
noun
- 1
masculinedefiance
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
preposition: 1. ungeachtet eines bestimmten Umstandes; ohne Rücksicht auf etwas; einer Sache zum Trotz
noun: 1. eigensinniges, störrisches Beharren auf der eigenen Position
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of trotz
- Trotzes genitive
- Trotze dative singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to trotz
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is trotz in German?
trotz appears 141 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).