kläglich
\ˈklɛːklɪç\
The verdict
“kläglich” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adjective. 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) - Pitoyable, lamentable, piteux, piteuse.
Corpus desk
Index FR-klaglich · kläglich · French
kläglich · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "K" 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 | kläglich |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ˈklɛːklɪç\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Longue queue: rang de « kläglich » en français
Rare enough to double-check
kläglich is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anadjective, transcribed \ˈklɛːklɪç\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Pitoyable, lamentable, piteux, piteuse.".
kläglich doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is kläglich, spelled K-L-Ä-G-L-I-C-H.
Definition
- 1Pitoyable, lamentable, piteux, piteuse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how kläglich appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Besonders der sonst mächtige Jangtse-Fluss gibt derzeit ein klägliches Bild ab: Durch den ausbleibenden Regen ist er auf ein Bruchteil seiner Größe geschrumpft, beide Uferenden haben Sandbänke von der Breite mehrerer Fußballfelder freigelegt.
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.