zäh

[t͡sɛː]

/[t͡sɛː]/ adj

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

The verdict

“zäh” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #18,775) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#18,775
frequency rank, German
1,996
“Z” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - langsam, schwerfällig fließend

Corpus desk

Index DE-zah · zäh · German

zäh · rank #18,775 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,775
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,996
  • PHOTO-FINISH zwölften

Nearest frequency peer: zwölften (-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.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „zäh“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „zäh“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

zäh vs zu
33% similar
zäh vs ze
33% similar
zäh vs ZK
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for zäh
PropertyValue
Headwordzäh
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[t͡sɛː]
Letters3
Frequency rank#18,775
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „zäh“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).zähliegt auf dieser Marke:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „zwölften“ (#18,774), „öde“ (#18,776), „östliche“ (#18,777). Unter 1,996 „Z“-Lemmata liegt „zäh“ bei #18,775. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for zäh is neighbouring look-alikes ("zu", "ze", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced [t͡sɛː]. Frequency #18,775 among 1,996 “Z” headwords. 4 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

zäh doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "zu", "ze", "ZK", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is zäh, spelled Z-Ä-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    langsam, schwerfällig fließend
  2. 2
    wenig dehnbar und dabei relativ reißfest
  3. 3
    ausdauernd; unnachgiebig, widerstandsfähig
  4. 4
    mühsam verlaufend

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Der Teig ist zu zäh.
  2. Das Material ist recht zäh.

Synonyms

dickflüssigschwerflüssigzähflüssigausdauerndunnachgiebigwiderstandsfähigunergiebigzeitraubend

This word in other languages

dense(English)espeso(Español)épais(Français)viscoso(Português)

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 "zäh"?
"zäh" is spelled Z-Ä-H. The IPA pronunciation is [t͡sɛː].
What does "zäh" mean?
As an adjective, "zäh" means: langsam, schwerfällig fließend
What words are commonly confused with "zäh"?
"zäh" is commonly confused with "zu", "ze", "ZK". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "zäh"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "zäh" is [t͡sɛː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "zäh" come from?
"zäh" 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 "zäh", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

öde#18,776Wil#18,762ala#18,792Wal#18,758

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list