zottelig
[ˈt͡sɔtəlɪç]
The verdict
“zottelig” is uncommon German (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency German
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - mit sehr groben, ungeordneten, meist längeren und verfilzten Haaren oder Fransen versehen
Corpus desk
Index DE-zottelig · zottelig · German
zottelig · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "Z" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | zottelig |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [ˈt͡sɔtəlɪç] |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Langschwanz-Rang von „zottelig“ im Deutschen
Rare enough to double-check
zottelig is uncommon German outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed [ˈt͡sɔtəlɪç]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
zottelig doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
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 zottelig, spelled Z-O-T-T-E-L-I-G.
Definition
- 1mit sehr groben, ungeordneten, meist längeren und verfilzten Haaren oder Fransen versehen
- 2übertragen auch für Personen oder Tiere, die in Haaren oder Fell ungepflegt aussehen
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how zottelig appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Der Mann hatte schwarze, zottelige Haare.
In Flur lag ein Flokati, einer dieser zotteligen Teppiche aus den Achtzigern.
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). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.