adroit

/əˈdɹɔɪt/

//əˈdɹɔɪt// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"adroit" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“adroit” is uncommon English (frequency #65,671 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#65,671
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - deft, dexterous, or skillful

Corpus desk

Index EN-adroit · adroit · English

adroit · rank #65,671 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #65,671
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH adjoint

Nearest frequency peer: adjoint (-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 “adroit”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “adroit” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for adroit
PropertyValue
Headwordadroit
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/əˈdɹɔɪt/
Letters6
Frequency rank#65,671
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “adroit” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).adroitfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “adjoint” (#65,669), “Ahmadiyya” (#65,674), “acerbic” (#65,666). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “adroit” is #65,671. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

adroit is uncommon English at frequency #65,671 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /əˈdɹɔɪt/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "deft, dexterous, or skillful".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for adroit, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from French adroit, from French à (“on the; to”) (from Old French a (“to; towards”), from Latin ad (“to; towards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ád (“at; near”)) + French droit (“right”) (from Old French droit, dreit, from Late Latin drictus, syncopat… The correct English form is adroit, spelled A-D-R-O-I-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    deft, dexterous, or skillful

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how adroit appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. A ſimple lad, with a whip in one hand, and the other locked in the arm of a young girl, is ſo loſt in gaping aſtoniſhment, that an adroit branch of the family of the Filches is clearing his pockets of their contents.
  2. [W]hile the press has teemed with a thousand better modes of defending Christianity, unbelievers had been asleep all the while, and dreamed of no adroiter methods of attacking it: […]

Etymology

Borrowed from French adroit, from French à (“on the; to”) (from Old French a (“to; towards”), from Latin ad (“to; towards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ád (“at; near”)) + French droit (“right”) (from Old French droit, dreit, from Late Latin drictus, syncopated form of Latin dīrēctus (“laid straight; direct, straight; level; upright”), perfective passive participle of dīrigō (“to lay straight”), from dis- (“apart, in two”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice; in two”)) + regō (“to govern, rule; to guide, steer”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃réǵeti (“to be straightening, setting upright”))).

Synonyms

habileskillful

Antonyms

clumsymaladroit

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

How do you spell "adroit"?
"adroit" is spelled A-D-R-O-I-T. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈdɹɔɪt/.
What does "adroit" mean?
As an adjective, "adroit" means: deft, dexterous, or skillful
How do you pronounce "adroit"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "adroit" is /əˈdɹɔɪt/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "adroit"?
Borrowed from French adroit, from French à (“on the; to”) (from Old French a (“to; towards”), from Latin ad (“to; towards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ád (“at; near”)) + French droit (“right”) (from Old French droit, dreit, from Late Latin drictus... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "adroit", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

applet#65,693arista#65,698Baffin#65,710baggie#65,711

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list