acerbic
/əˈsɜː(ɹ)bɪk/
"acerbic" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“acerbic” is uncommon English (frequency #65,666 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #65,666
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Tasting sour or bitter.
Corpus desk
Index EN-acerbic · acerbic · English
acerbic · rank #65,666 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #65,666
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH ablative
Nearest frequency peer: ablative (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
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.
Long-tail ranks near “acerbic”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- aal
aal
34,340 corpus weight
- abhorred
abhorred
34,338 corpus weight
- ablative
ablative
34,337 corpus weight
- acerbic
acerbic
34,335 corpus weight
- adjoint
adjoint
34,332 corpus weight
- adroit
adroit
34,330 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “acerbic” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | acerbic |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈsɜː(ɹ)bɪk/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #65,666 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “acerbic” in English
Rare enough to double-check
acerbic is uncommon English at frequency #65,666 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /əˈsɜː(ɹ)bɪk/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for acerbic, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested since the 17th century, from Latin acerbus (“sour, bitter”). The correct English form is acerbic, spelled A-C-E-R-B-I-C.
Definition
- 1Tasting sour or bitter.
- 2Sharp, harsh, biting.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how acerbic appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Those consumers who object to the acerbic taste of garlic can purchase de-odorized garlic or allicin extract.
Supercompetent, superconfident and supercritical, Schmidt is a gifted orator whose acerbic wit earned him the nickname "Schmidt the Lip."
Etymology
Attested since the 17th century, from Latin acerbus (“sour, bitter”).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "acerbic", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).