aghast
/əˈɡæst/
"aghast" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“aghast” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #44,601 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #44,601
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | aghast |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈɡæst/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #44,601 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “aghast” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for aghast is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈɡæst/. Corpus data places it at rank #44,601 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for aghast, with forms such as "agahst", "agghast", and "aghasst". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English agast, agasted, past participle of agasten (“to terrify”), from Old English a- (compare with Gothic 𐌿𐍃- (us-), German er-, originally meaning "out") + gæstan (“to terrify, torment”): compare Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usgaisjan, “to te… The correct English form is aghast, spelled A-G-H-A-S-T.
Definition
- 1Terrified; struck with amazement; showing signs of terror or horror.
Etymology
From Middle English agast, agasted, past participle of agasten (“to terrify”), from Old English a- (compare with Gothic 𐌿𐍃- (us-), German er-, originally meaning "out") + gæstan (“to terrify, torment”): compare Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (usgaisjan, “to terrify”, literally “to fix, to root to the spot with terror”); akin to Latin haerere (“to stick fast, cling”). By surface analysis, a- + ghast/gast. See gaze.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: agahst,agghast,aghasst,aghastt,aghats,aghhast,aghsat,ahgast,gahast
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of aghast - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “aghast”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-G-H-A-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈɡæst/ (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.