acolyte
/ˈæk.ə.laɪt/
"acolyte" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“acolyte” is an uncommon English word, ranked #58,491 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #58,491
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - One who has received the highest of the four minor orders in the Catholic Church, being ordained to carry the wine, water and lights at Mass.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | acolyte |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæk.ə.laɪt/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #58,491 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “acolyte” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for acolyte is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæk.ə.laɪt/. Corpus data places it at rank #58,491 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for acolyte in our index, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English acolite, acolit, from Old French acolyt and Late Latin acolythus, from Ancient Greek ἀκόλουθος (akólouthos, “follower, attendant”). The correct English form is acolyte, spelled A-C-O-L-Y-T-E.
Definition
- 1One who has received the highest of the four minor orders in the Catholic Church, being ordained to carry the wine, water and lights at Mass.
- 2An altar server.
- 3An attendant, assistant, or follower.
Etymology
From Middle English acolite, acolit, from Old French acolyt and Late Latin acolythus, from Ancient Greek ἀκόλουθος (akólouthos, “follower, attendant”).
Synonyms
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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Using “acolyte”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-C-O-L-Y-T-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæk.ə.laɪt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.