Zither
[ˈt͡sɪtɐ]
The verdict
“Zither” is uncommon German (frequency #56,704 among 37,643 “Z” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #56,704
- frequency rank, German
- 37,643
- “Z” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Saiteninstrument, dessen Saiten mit beiden Händen gezupft werden
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Zither |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈt͡sɪtɐ] |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #56,704 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Zither” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
Zither is uncommon German at frequency #56,704 among 37,643 “Z” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed [ˈt͡sɪtɐ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Saiteninstrument, dessen Saiten mit beiden Händen gezupft werden".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for Zither, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is Zither, spelled Z-I-T-H-E-R.
Definition
- 1Saiteninstrument, dessen Saiten mit beiden Händen gezupft werden
This word in other languages
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 "Zither"?
What does "Zither" mean?
How do you pronounce "Zither"?
What language does "Zither" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “Zither”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is Z-I-T-H-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈt͡sɪtɐ] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Other uncommon German words near this rank
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.