germane
/dʒɜː(ɹ)ˈmeɪn/
"germane" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“germane” is uncommon English (frequency #64,398 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #64,398
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Related to a topic of discussion or consideration.
Corpus desk
Index EN-germane · germane · English
germane · rank #64,398 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #64,398
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH Gertie
Nearest frequency peer: Gertie (+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 “germane”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- gena
gena
35,606 corpus weight
- germane
germane
35,603 corpus weight
- Gertie
Gertie
35,602 corpus weight
- Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad
35,601 corpus weight
- gid
gid
35,600 corpus weight
- Gilson
Gilson
35,599 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “germane” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | germane |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /dʒɜː(ɹ)ˈmeɪn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #64,398 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “germane” in English
Rare enough to double-check
germane is uncommon English at frequency #64,398 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /dʒɜː(ɹ)ˈmeɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Related to a topic of discussion or consideration.".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for germane, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: A variant form of german, adapted in this sense in allusions to its use in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The correct English form is germane, spelled G-E-R-M-A-N-E.
Definition
- 1Related to a topic of discussion or consideration.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how germane appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1924, W. D. Ross., translator, Aristotle, Metaphysics. Nashotah, Wisconsin, USA: The Classical Library, 2001, Book 1, Part 5. Yet this much is germane to the present inquiry:
Connors was addicted to this racquet and kept using it even after Wilson stopped making it, forfeiting millions in potential endorsement money by doing so. Connors was eccentric (and kind of repulsive) in lots of other ways, too, none of which are germane to this article.
Etymology
A variant form of german, adapted in this sense in allusions to its use in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
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 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 "germane", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).