ansible
/ˈæn.sɪ.bəl/
"ansible" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ansible” is uncommon English (frequency #82,043 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #82,043
- frequency rank, English
- 3,931
- “A” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A hypothetical device that enables users to communicate instantaneously across great distances; that is, a faster-than-light communication device.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ansible · ansible · English
ansible · rank #82,043 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #82,043
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,931
- PHOTO-FINISH anta
Nearest frequency peer: anta (+1 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 “ansible”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- anamorphic
anamorphic
17,963 corpus weight
- ansible
ansible
17,958 corpus weight
- anta
anta
17,957 corpus weight
- antacid
antacid
17,956 corpus weight
- antimalarial
antimalarial
17,955 corpus weight
- antitumor
antitumor
17,954 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “ansible” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ansible |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈæn.sɪ.bəl/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #82,043 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ansible” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ansible is uncommon English at frequency #82,043 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈæn.sɪ.bəl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A hypothetical device that enables users to communicate instantaneously across great distances; that is, a faster-than-light communication device.".
No misspelling variants are generated for ansible in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Coined by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin in 1966 in her novella Rocannon's World; Le Guin states that she derived it from answerable. The word was further spread by its adoption into other science fiction worlds, including by Orson Scott Card in Ender's … The correct English form is ansible, spelled A-N-S-I-B-L-E.
Definition
- 1A hypothetical device that enables users to communicate instantaneously across great distances; that is, a faster-than-light communication device.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ansible appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“You remember the ansible, the machine I showed you in the ship, which can speak instantly to other worlds, with no loss of years– […] ” “An ansible would theoretically be powered by subatomic particles that have undergone quantum entanglement, which utilizes Einstein's 'spooky action at a distance', allowing the alteration of one particle to instantaneou…
“[…] The master ansible is there, in contact with all our invasion fleet; the ships are all working, ready to fight. […]”
Etymology
Coined by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin in 1966 in her novella Rocannon's World; Le Guin states that she derived it from answerable. The word was further spread by its adoption into other science fiction worlds, including by Orson Scott Card in Ender's Game (1986), Vernor Vinge in The Blabber (1988) and Dan Simmons in Hyperion (1989).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ansible", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).