germane
/dʒɜː(ɹ)ˈmeɪn/
"germane" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“germane” is an uncommon English word, ranked #64,398 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #64,398
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Related to a topic of discussion or consideration.
| 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) |
Where “germane” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for germane is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dʒɜː(ɹ)ˈmeɪn/. Corpus data places it at rank #64,398 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
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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Using “germane”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-E-R-M-A-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /dʒɜː(ɹ)ˈmeɪn/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.