agency
Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.
Letters
6 characters
Language
English
word origin
Source
Wiktionary
open dictionary
Access
Free
no sign-up needed
Detailed reference entry for the English word "agency", 6-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "agency" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "agency" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
agency is aEnglishnoun. It means: The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power. Pronounced /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒən.si/. It ranks #1,415 in English word frequency. Often confused with agent and agony.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | agency |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒən.si/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,415 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency rank visualization
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for agency is 6 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈeɪ.d͡ʒən.si/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,415 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 6 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 9 documented wrong-spelling variants for agency, with forms such as "aegncy", "agecny", and "agenccy". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "agent", "agony", "agents", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Medieval Latin agēns Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Medieval Latin -ius Medieval Latin -ia Medieval Latin agēntiabor. English age… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is agency, spelled A-G-E-N-C-Y, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.
- 2The capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.
- 3A medium through which power is exerted or an end is achieved.
- 4The office or function of an agent; also, the relationship between a principal and that person's agent.
- 5An establishment engaged in doing business for another; also, the place of business or the district of such an agency.
- 6A department or other administrative unit of a government; also, the office or headquarters of, or the district administered by, such unit of government.
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵeti Proto-Italic *agō Latin agō Medieval Latin agēns Proto-Indo-European *-yós Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Medieval Latin -ius Medieval Latin -ia Medieval Latin agēntiabor. English agency From Medieval Latin agentia, from Latin agēns (present participle of agere (“to act”)), agentis (cognate with French agence, see also agent).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aegncy,agecny,agenccy,agencyy,agenncy,agenyc,aggency,agnecy,gaency
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
Relative frequency of common misspelling types for agency
Misspelling Variants of "agency"
Frequency rank: #1,415 in English
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "agency"?
What does "agency" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "agency"?
How do you pronounce "agency"?
What is the origin of the word "agency"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter A in our English index: