zehren

[ˈt͡seːʁən]

/[ˈt͡seːʁən]/ verb

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

The verdict

“zehren” is uncommon German (frequency #54,258 among 1,996 “Z” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,258
frequency rank, German
1,996
“Z” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - durch verschiedene Einflüsse an Gewicht oder Volumen verlieren oder verlieren lassen

Corpus desk

Index DE-zehren · zehren · German

zehren · rank #54,258 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,258
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,996
  • PHOTO-FINISH Zahnräder

Nearest frequency peer: Zahnräder (-2 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 „zehren“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for zehren
PropertyValue
Headwordzehren
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[ˈt͡seːʁən]
Letters6
Frequency rank#54,258
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „zehren“ im Deutschen

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).zehrenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „Zahnräder“ (#54,256), „Yvette“ (#54,255), „Zentrumspartei“ (#54,261). Unter 1,996 „Z“-Lemmata liegt „zehren“ bei #54,258. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

zehren is uncommon German at frequency #54,258 among 1,996 “Z” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈt͡seːʁən]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for zehren, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct German form is zehren, spelled Z-E-H-R-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    durch verschiedene Einflüsse an Gewicht oder Volumen verlieren oder verlieren lassen
  2. 2
    jemanden schwächen
  3. 3
    sich von etwas ernähren, etwas als Nahrung für den Körper oder Stärkung für die Seele nutzen
  4. 4
    essen und trinken (in Anlehnung an die Wortgeschichte ist davon auszugehen, dass zunächst nur das Zerreißen des Fleisches beim Essen erfasst war)
  5. 5
    verdauen
  6. 6
    fressen
  7. 7
    verbrauchen
  8. 8
    betteln, erpressen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Dieses heiße Klima hier zehrt.
  2. Jochen leidet an einer Krankheit, die ganz schön zehrt.

Synonyms

entkräftenerschöpfenschwächen

Antonyms

stärken

This word in other languages

consume(English)

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 "zehren"?
"zehren" is spelled Z-E-H-R-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈt͡seːʁən].
What does "zehren" mean?
As a verb, "zehren" means: durch verschiedene Einflüsse an Gewicht oder Volumen verlieren oder verlieren lassen
How do you pronounce "zehren"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "zehren" is [ˈt͡seːʁən]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "zehren" come from?
"zehren" 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 "zehren", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

Yvette#54,255Wörner#54,252Ärmeln#54,272wendig#54,239

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list