Wünschelrute
German, noun/ˈvʏnʃəlˌʁuːtə/
Wünschelrute is spelled W-Ü-N-S-C-H-E-L-R-U-T-E (12 letters) and appears about once in every 6 million words in written German, the 125,379th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Wünschelrute is a German feminine noun meaning “divining rod (a staff used to find subterranean resources, such as water or metals, by divination)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “Rute, mit deren Hilfe jemand nach unsichtbaren Wasser- oder Erzadern im Untergrund sucht”.
What does Wünschelrute mean in English?
noun
- 1
femininedivining rod (a staff used to find subterranean resources, such as water or metals, by divination)
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Rute, mit deren Hilfe jemand nach unsichtbaren Wasser- oder Erzadern im Untergrund sucht
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 Wünschelrute
- Wünschelruten plural
- Wünschelruthe obsolete
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Wünschelrute?
- /ˈvʏnʃəlˌʁuːtə/
- [ˈvʏnʃl̩ˌʁuːtə]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Wünschelrute in German?
Wünschelrute appears about once in every 6 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).