Zwitter
German, noun/ˈtsvɪtər/
Zwitter is spelled Z-W-I-T-T-E-R (7 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written German, the 65,066th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Zwitter is a German masculine noun meaning “hermaphrodite (individual or organism having both male and female gonads)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “Lebewesen, das sowohl männliche als auch weibliche Geschlechtsmerkmale aufweist”.
What does Zwitter mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinehermaphrodite (individual or organism having both male and female gonads)
- 2
masculinehybrid (something of mixed components)
- 3
masculinesomething showing incompatible attributes
- 4
masculineobsoletea child born of a relation considered illicit or incongruous (born out of wedlock, of different social classes, and/or of different races); a bastard; a mongrel
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Lebewesen, das sowohl männliche als auch weibliche Geschlechtsmerkmale aufweist 2. Gebilde aus widersprüchlichen Teilen bestehend
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of Zwitter
- Zwitters genitive
- Zwittern dative definite plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce Zwitter?
- /ˈtsvɪtər/
- [ˈt͡sʋɪtɐ]
- [ˈt͡svɪtɐ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is Zwitter in German?
Zwitter appears about once in every 2 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).