Degen
"degen" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Degen” is uncommon English (frequency #90,344 among 3,470 “D” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #90,344
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname from German.
Corpus desk
Index EN-degen · Degen · English
Degen · rank #90,344 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #90,344
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH degradable
Nearest frequency peer: degradable (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Long-tail ranks near “Degen”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- dawah
dawah
9,661 corpus weight
- daylong
daylong
9,660 corpus weight
- Deano
Deano
9,659 corpus weight
- Degen
Degen
9,657 corpus weight
- degradable
degradable
9,656 corpus weight
- demarcate
demarcate
9,654 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Degen” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Degen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #90,344 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Degen” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Degen is uncommon English at frequency #90,344 among 3,470 “D” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A surname from German.".
Zero misspellings are on record for Degen in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: * As a German and Alemannic German surname, from the noun Degen (“boy warrior, hero”). * As a German and Dutch surname, shortened from names like Degenhard, Degenhold, etc., with the same meaning as the above. In isolated cases it can also be from Degen (“r… The correct English form is Degen, spelled D-E-G-E-N.
Definition
- 1A surname from German.
Etymology
* As a German and Alemannic German surname, from the noun Degen (“boy warrior, hero”). * As a German and Dutch surname, shortened from names like Degenhard, Degenhold, etc., with the same meaning as the above. In isolated cases it can also be from Degen (“rapier”), for someone who made or wore such weapons, and from Middle High German dechen (“dean”, modern German Dechant).
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 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Degen", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).