Wortliche

Wortliche is an adjective used primarily in German language contexts to describe something that is expressed in spoken rather than written form. The term derives from the German noun Wort (“word”) with the suffix –lich, forming an adjective equivalent to English “verbal” or “spoken.” It is often contrasted with schriftliche, which means “written.”

In legal, academic, and everyday German, the distinction is significant. A wortliche Erklärung (spoken statement) may hold different evidentiary weight than a schriftliche Erklärung, especially in court. In German-speaking media, the phrase wortliche Quelle (spoken source) is used to indicate that information comes from an interview or verbal testimony rather than a published document.

The word has remained stable in usage since the 18th century, when German scholars began to formalize distinctions between oral and written language. In contemporary usage, wortliche is common in journalism, where source reliability is noted, and in educational contexts, where oral versus written assignments are differentiated.

In some dialects and older legal documents, you may also encounter variantes such as wortlich and worthelich; however, wortliche is the standard contemporary form. The term appears in dictionaries such as Duden and offers a concise way to indicate the mode of expression in discussion, documentation, and legal proceedings.