zerfressen

[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈfʁɛsn̩]

/[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈfʁɛsn̩]/ verb

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

The verdict

“zerfressen” is uncommon German (frequency #52,602 among 1,996 “Z” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,602
frequency rank, German
1,996
“Z” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - durch Beißen/Nagen (Fressen/Fraß) beschädigen oder zerstören

Corpus desk

Index DE-zerfressen · zerfressen · German

zerfressen · rank #52,602 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,602
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,996
  • PHOTO-FINISH zersetzen

Nearest frequency peer: zersetzen (+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 „zerfressen“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for zerfressen
PropertyValue
Headwordzerfressen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈfʁɛsn̩]
Letters10
Frequency rank#52,602
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „zerfressen“ im Deutschen

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.zerfressenfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „zersetzen“ (#52,603), „zementiert“ (#52,600), „Ziegenkäse“ (#52,604). Unter 1,996 „Z“-Lemmata liegt „zerfressen“ bei #52,602. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

zerfressen is uncommon German at frequency #52,602 among 1,996 “Z” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈfʁɛsn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for zerfressen, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is zerfressen, spelled Z-E-R-F-R-E-S-S-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    durch Beißen/Nagen (Fressen/Fraß) beschädigen oder zerstören
  2. 2
    durch einen aggressiven Stoff oder ein sehr starkes Gefühl beschädigen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. „Ein anderer, schön goldig grüner Rüsselkäfer (Phyllobius argentatus) zerfrisst im Frühjahre die frischen Buchenblätter.“
  2. „Es hat sich gezeigt, daß die Schlacken geeignet sind, die eisernen Röhren zu zerfressen und undicht zu machen.“

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 "zerfressen"?
"zerfressen" is spelled Z-E-R-F-R-E-S-S-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈfʁɛsn̩].
What does "zerfressen" mean?
As a verb, "zerfressen" means: durch Beißen/Nagen (Fressen/Fraß) beschädigen oder zerstören
How do you pronounce "zerfressen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "zerfressen" is [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈfʁɛsn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "zerfressen" come from?
"zerfressen" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "zerfressen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

zementiert#52,600Ziegenkäse#52,604wörtlichen#52,595überbacken#52,616

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list