actuary
/ˈæktʃuˌɛɹi/
"actuary" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“actuary” is an uncommon English word, ranked #52,757 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #52,757
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Registrar, clerk.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | actuary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæktʃuˌɛɹi/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #52,757 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “actuary” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for actuary is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæktʃuˌɛɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #52,757 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for actuary, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin āctuārius (“copyist, account-keeper”), from āctus (“public business”); see actuarius. The correct English form is actuary, spelled A-C-T-U-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1Registrar, clerk.
- 2A professional who calculates financial values associated with uncertain events subject to risk, such as insurance premiums or pension contributions.
Etymology
From Latin āctuārius (“copyist, account-keeper”), from āctus (“public business”); see actuarius.
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 “actuary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-C-T-U-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæktʃuˌɛɹi/ (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.