welsch
German, adjective/vɛlʃ/
welsch is spelled W-E-L-S-C-H (6 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written German, the 56,856th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Welsch is a German adjective meaning “of the Romance-speaking areas and population of Switzerland” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “zum romanischsprachigen (insbesondere französischsprachigen) Teil der Schweiz gehörig, aus ihm stammend”.
What does welsch mean in English?
adjective
- 1
Switzerlandof the Romance-speaking areas and population of Switzerland
- 2
datedderogatoryRomance (of the Romance languages and their speakers in general, particularly French and Italians)
- 3
archaicforeign, not native
Welschkorn
- 4
obsoleteof Wales; Welsh (of the country of Wales or the Welsh language)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. zum romanischsprachigen (insbesondere französischsprachigen) Teil der Schweiz gehörig, aus ihm stammend 2. aus dem romanischen Bereich stammend, romanisch, insbesondere französisch oder italienisch 3. undeutsch, fremdländisch, südländisch
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 welsch
- welscher masculine nominative singular
- welsche feminine nominative singular
- welsches neuter nominative singular
- welschen genitive masculine singular
- welschem dative masculine singular
- der welsche definite includes-article masculine
- die welsche definite feminine includes-article
- das welsche definite includes-article neuter
- die welschen definite includes-article nominative
- des welschen definite genitive includes-article
- der welschen definite feminine genitive
- dem welschen dative definite includes-article
- den welschen dative definite includes-article
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce welsch?
- /vɛlʃ/
- [vɛlʃ]
- [vɛlt͡ʃ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is welsch in German?
welsch appears about once in every 2 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).