High German

noun

"high-german" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“High German” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
11
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A native or inhabitant of the southern highlands of Germany; a High German speaker.

Key facts for High German
PropertyValue
HeadwordHigh German
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “High German” sits in English frequency

High German falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

High German is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for High German, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of German Hochdeutsch. The correct English form is High German, spelled H-I-G-H- -G-E-R-M-A-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    A native or inhabitant of the southern highlands of Germany; a High German speaker.
  2. 2
    Any of a group of West Germanic languages or dialects spoken in the southern highlands of Germany.
  3. 3
    The standard variety of High German as spoken and written throughout the German language area.

Etymology

Calque of German Hochdeutsch.

Synonyms

High DutchStandard High GermanSHGStandard German

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "High German"?
"High German" is spelled H-I-G-H- -G-E-R-M-A-N.
What does "High German" mean?
As a noun, "High German" means: A native or inhabitant of the southern highlands of Germany; a High German speaker.
What is the origin of the word "High German"?
Calque of German Hochdeutsch. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “High German”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is H-I-G-H- -G-E-R-M-A-N - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • 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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list