ansible
/ˈæn.sɪ.bəl/
"ansible" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ansible” is an uncommon English word, ranked #82,043 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #82,043
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A hypothetical device that enables users to communicate instantaneously across great distances; that is, a faster-than-light communication device.
| 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) |
Where “ansible” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ansible is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈæn.sɪ.bəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #82,043 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "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.
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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Using “ansible”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-N-S-I-B-L-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈæn.sɪ.bəl/ (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.