welk

[vɛlk]

/[vɛlk]/ adj

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

The verdict

“welk” is uncommon German (frequency #78,750 among 2,930 “W” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#78,750
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - nicht mehr frisch und daher schlaff oder trocken

Corpus desk

Index DE-welk · welk · German

welk · rank #78,750 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #78,750
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH weitsichtig

Nearest frequency peer: weitsichtig (-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 „welk“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for welk
PropertyValue
Headwordwelk
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[vɛlk]
Letters4
Frequency rank#78,750
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „welk“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „weitsichtig“ (#78,749), „welken“ (#78,751), „weiterkämpfen“ (#78,748). Unter 2,930 „W“-Lemmata liegt „welk“ bei #78,750. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

welk is uncommon German at frequency #78,750 among 2,930 “W” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [vɛlk]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Zero misspellings are on record for welk in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

No documented word history exists for this headword, 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 welk, spelled W-E-L-K.

Definition

  1. 1
    nicht mehr frisch und daher schlaff oder trocken
  2. 2
    erschlafft und faltig

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Der Wassermangel lässt [das] Laub [der Bäume] oft erst welk, das heißt saftlos und trocken, werden und schließlich vorzeitig abfallen.
  2. Welk und viel zu klein steht der Mais auf den Feldern Niederösterreichs. […] Österreichs Landwirtschaft leidet unter einer historischen Dürre.

Antonyms

frischknackigfestknackigstraff

This word in other languages

limp(English)fané(Français)

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 "welk"?
"welk" is spelled W-E-L-K. The IPA pronunciation is [vɛlk].
What does "welk" mean?
As an adjective, "welk" means: nicht mehr frisch und daher schlaff oder trocken
How do you pronounce "welk"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "welk" is [vɛlk]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "welk" come from?
"welk" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "welk", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Woge#78,767Ösen#78,812übst#78,818vasa#78,678

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list