welsch

[vɛlʃ]

/[vɛlʃ]/ adj

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

The verdict

“welsch” is uncommon German (frequency #57,564 among 2,930 “W” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#57,564
frequency rank, German
2,930
“W” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - zum romanischsprachigen (insbesondere französischsprachigen) Teil der Schweiz gehörig, aus ihm stammend

Corpus desk

Index DE-welsch · welsch · German

welsch · rank #57,564 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #57,564
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,930
  • PHOTO-FINISH weiterging

Nearest frequency peer: weiterging (-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 „welsch“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for welsch
PropertyValue
Headwordwelsch
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[vɛlʃ]
Letters6
Frequency rank#57,564
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „welsch“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „weiterging“ (#57,563), „Weltgemeinschaft“ (#57,565), „Weltregierung“ (#57,566). Unter 2,930 „W“-Lemmata liegt „welsch“ bei #57,564. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

welsch is uncommon German at frequency #57,564 among 2,930 “W” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [vɛlʃ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for welsch, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is welsch, spelled W-E-L-S-C-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    zum romanischsprachigen (insbesondere französischsprachigen) Teil der Schweiz gehörig, aus ihm stammend
  2. 2
    aus dem romanischen Bereich stammend, romanisch, insbesondere französisch oder italienisch
  3. 3
    undeutsch, fremdländisch, südländisch

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Die Ehr' gegönnt dem Kaiser, der den Herrn / Sich nennt der deutschen und der welschen Erde“ – (Schiller, Wilhelm Tell)
  2. „Bald wird dem Reisenden zur freudigen Gewissheit, dass hier kein welsches Wort die deutsche Ferienfreude stört.“

Antonyms

deutschdeutschsprachiggermanisch

This word in other languages

extranjero(Español)welsch(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 "welsch"?
"welsch" is spelled W-E-L-S-C-H. The IPA pronunciation is [vɛlʃ].
What does "welsch" mean?
As an adjective, "welsch" means: zum romanischsprachigen (insbesondere französischsprachigen) Teil der Schweiz gehörig, aus ihm stammend
How do you pronounce "welsch"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "welsch" is [vɛlʃ]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "welsch" come from?
"welsch" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "welsch", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

wehret#57,560widert#57,573Zwettl#57,607umgehe#57,488

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list