zitterten
[ˈt͡sɪtɐtn̩]
The verdict
“zitterten” is uncommon German (frequency #78,790 among 37,643 “Z” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #78,790
- frequency rank, German
- 37,643
- “Z” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - 1. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zittern
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | zitterten |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | [ˈt͡sɪtɐtn̩] |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #78,790 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “zitterten” sits in German frequency
Rare enough to double-check
zitterten is uncommon German at frequency #78,790 among 37,643 “Z” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed [ˈt͡sɪtɐtn̩]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for zitterten, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is zitterten, spelled Z-I-T-T-E-R-T-E-N.
Definition
- 11. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zittern
- 21. Person Plural Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zittern
- 33. Person Plural Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zittern
- 43. Person Plural Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs zittern
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
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Using “zitterten”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is Z-I-T-T-E-R-T-E-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈt͡sɪtɐtn̩] (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.