Trümmerfrau
German, noun/ˈtʁʏmɐˌfʁaʊ̯/
Trümmerfrau is spelled T-R-Ü-M-M-E-R-F-R-A-U (11 letters) and appears about once in every 12 million words in written German, the 189,851st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Trümmerfrau is a German feminine noun meaning “woman who helped to rebuild German and Austrian cities after World War II” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “die Frauen, welche nach Ende des zweiten Weltkrieges die deutschen und österreichischen Städte von Trümmern…”.
What does Trümmerfrau mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininewoman who helped to rebuild German and Austrian cities after World War II
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. die Frauen, welche nach Ende des zweiten Weltkrieges die deutschen und österreichischen Städte von Trümmern befreiten und damit einen maßgeblichen Anteil zum Wiederaufbau leisteten
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 Trümmerfrau
- Trümmerfrauen plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Trümmerfrau?
- /ˈtʁʏmɐˌfʁaʊ̯/
- [ˈtʁʏmɐˌfʁaʊ̯]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Trümmerfrau in German?
Trümmerfrau appears about once in every 12 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).