zerknirscht

[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈknɪʁʃt]

/[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈknɪʁʃt]/ adj

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

The verdict

“zerknirscht” is uncommon German (frequency #82,387 among 1,996 “Z” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#82,387
frequency rank, German
1,996
“Z” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - sich seiner Schuld, seines Versagens bewusst und daher niedergeschlagen

Corpus desk

Index DE-zerknirscht · zerknirscht · German

zerknirscht · rank #82,387 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #82,387
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,996
  • PHOTO-FINISH zerpflückt

Nearest frequency peer: zerpflückt (+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 „zerknirscht“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for zerknirscht
PropertyValue
Headwordzerknirscht
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈknɪʁʃt]
Letters11
Frequency rank#82,387
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „zerknirscht“ im Deutschen

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).zerknirschtfällt in diesen Seltenheitsbereich:

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „zerpflückt“ (#82,388), „zerrütteten“ (#82,389), „zersägt“ (#82,390). Unter 1,996 „Z“-Lemmata liegt „zerknirscht“ bei #82,387. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

zerknirscht is uncommon German at frequency #82,387 among 1,996 “Z” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈknɪʁʃt]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "sich seiner Schuld, seines Versagens bewusst und daher niedergeschlagen".

zerknirscht has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable German patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is zerknirscht, spelled Z-E-R-K-N-I-R-S-C-H-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    sich seiner Schuld, seines Versagens bewusst und daher niedergeschlagen

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. Er war völlig zerknirscht über das, was passiert war.

This word in other languages

compungido(Español)

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 "zerknirscht"?
"zerknirscht" is spelled Z-E-R-K-N-I-R-S-C-H-T. The IPA pronunciation is [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈknɪʁʃt].
What does "zerknirscht" mean?
As an adjective, "zerknirscht" means: sich seiner Schuld, seines Versagens bewusst und daher niedergeschlagen
How do you pronounce "zerknirscht"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "zerknirscht" is [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈknɪʁʃt]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "zerknirscht" come from?
"zerknirscht" 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 "zerknirscht", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

zerrütteten#82,389Zimmerdecke#82,395zurückhaben#82,400zurückkomme#82,401

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list