assail
/əˈseɪl/
"assail" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“assail” is an uncommon English word, ranked #83,008 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #83,008
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To attack with harsh words or violent force (also figuratively).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | assail |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /əˈseɪl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #83,008 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “assail” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for assail is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈseɪl/. Corpus data places it at rank #83,008 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To attack with harsh words or violent force (also figuratively).".
No misspelling variants are generated for assail in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English assailen, from Old French assaillir, assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assault. The correct English form is assail, spelled A-S-S-A-I-L.
Definition
- 1To attack with harsh words or violent force (also figuratively).
Etymology
From Middle English assailen, from Old French assaillir, assalir, from Late Latin assalīre, from Latin ad (“at, towards”) + salīre (“jump”). See also assault.
Synonyms
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.
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Using “assail”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-S-S-A-I-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈseɪl/ (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.