erkennen
\ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən\
The verdict
“erkennen” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency French
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Reconnaître, déceler.
Corpus desk
Index FR-erkennen · erkennen · French
erkennen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "E" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | erkennen |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « erkennen » en français
Rare enough to double-check
erkennen is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed \ɛɐ̯ˈkɛnən\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 8 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for erkennen, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. 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.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is erkennen, spelled E-R-K-E-N-N-E-N.
Definition
- 1Reconnaître, déceler.
- 2Distinguer, apercevoir, deviner.
- 3Identifier.
- 4Apprécier, juger correctement.
- 5Prononcer une sentence.
- 6Accorder, concéder une pénalité.
- 7Connaître, (usage biblique et littéraire : avoir des relations sexuelles avec une personne).
- 8Diagnostiquer.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how erkennen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
»Was für ein hübscher junger Mann! Hier kann man sich umdrehen und ihn ansehen,« sagte eine Maske, in der die Stammgäste des Balls eine anständige Frau erkannten.
Gestern bin ich Detlef begegnet. Er hat sich stark verändert, ich habe ihn fast nicht erkannt.
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.