acerbity
/əˈsɜːbɪti/
"acerbity" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“acerbity” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit.
Corpus desk
Index EN-acerbity · acerbity · English
acerbity · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "A" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | acerbity |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈsɜːbɪti/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “acerbity” in English
Rare enough to double-check
acerbity is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /əˈsɜːbɪti/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.
acerbity doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French acerbité, from Latin acerbitās (“acerbity; harshness”), from acerbus (“bitter”). See acerb. The correct English form is acerbity, spelled A-C-E-R-B-I-T-Y.
Definition
- 1Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit.
- 2Harshness, bitterness, or severity
- 3Something harsh (e.g. a remark, act or experience).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how acerbity appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
acerbity of temper, of language, of pain
“Well ?” I repeated with some acerbity. I had been wondering for the last ten minutes how many more knots he would manage to make in that same bit of string before he actually started undoing them again.
Etymology
Borrowed from French acerbité, from Latin acerbitās (“acerbity; harshness”), from acerbus (“bitter”). See acerb.
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.