zersetzen

[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sn̩]

/[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sn̩]/ verb

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

The verdict

“zersetzen” is uncommon German (frequency #52,603 among 1,996 “Z” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#52,603
frequency rank, German
1,996
“Z” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - etwas in seine Bestandteile auflösen

Corpus desk

Index DE-zersetzen · zersetzen · German

zersetzen · rank #52,603 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #52,603
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,996
  • PHOTO-FINISH zerfressen

Nearest frequency peer: zerfressen (-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 „zersetzen“

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

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for zersetzen
PropertyValue
Headwordzersetzen
LanguageGerman
Part of speechVerb
IPA[t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sn̩]
Letters9
Frequency rank#52,603
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Langschwanz-Rang von „zersetzen“ im Deutschen

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

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

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Seltene Nachbarn derselben Bandbreite: „zerfressen“ (#52,602), „Ziegenkäse“ (#52,604), „zementiert“ (#52,600). Unter 1,996 „Z“-Lemmata liegt „zersetzen“ bei #52,603. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

zersetzen is uncommon German at frequency #52,603 among 1,996 “Z” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

zersetzen doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is zersetzen, spelled Z-E-R-S-E-T-Z-E-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    etwas in seine Bestandteile auflösen
  2. 2
    etwas löst sich in seine Bestandteile auf
  3. 3
    etwas von innen zerstören, untergraben, schwer schädigen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Japanische Forscher haben ein Bakterium entdeckt, das in der Lage ist, diesen speziellen Kunststoff vollständig zu zersetzen (Science, Yoshida et al., 2016).
  2. Sie fanden darin zahlreiche Bakterien der Gattung Oceanospirilla, die dafür bekannt sind, dass sie Kohlenwasserstoffe – die Hauptbestandteile des Öls – zersetzen können.

Synonyms

auflösendesintegrierenverfallenverwesenzerfallendemoralisierenuntergrabenunterhöhlenunterminieren

Antonyms

koagulierenintegrierensynthetisierenzusammenballenschützenunterstützenverteidigen

This word in other languages

corrode(English)descomponer(Español)décomposer(Français)

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 "zersetzen"?
"zersetzen" is spelled Z-E-R-S-E-T-Z-E-N. The IPA pronunciation is [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sn̩].
What does "zersetzen" mean?
As a verb, "zersetzen" means: etwas in seine Bestandteile auflösen
How do you pronounce "zersetzen"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "zersetzen" is [t͡sɛɐ̯ˈzɛt͡sn̩]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "zersetzen" come from?
"zersetzen" 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 "zersetzen", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Zwielicht#52,613zynischen#52,614überhören#52,619überzieht#52,621

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list