assiduous

/əˈsɪdjuːəs/

//əˈsɪdjuːəs// adj

"assiduous" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“assiduous” is uncommon English (frequency #79,273 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#79,273
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Hard-working, diligent or regular (in attendance or work); industrious.

Corpus desk

Index EN-assiduous · assiduous · English

assiduous · rank #79,273 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #79,273
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH assize

Nearest frequency peer: assize (+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 “assiduous”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “assiduous” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for assiduous
PropertyValue
Headwordassiduous
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/əˈsɪdjuːəs/
Letters9
Frequency rank#79,273
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “assiduous” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).assiduousfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “assize” (#79,274), “astragalus” (#79,275), “Ashbury” (#79,270). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “assiduous” is #79,273. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

assiduous is uncommon English at frequency #79,273 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /əˈsɪdjuːəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Hard-working, diligent or regular (in attendance or work); industrious.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for assiduous, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

Etymologically, the entry records: A learned borrowing from Latin assiduus, from assidere (“to sit down to”), from ad- (“to”) + sedere (“to sit”). Compare sedulous. Cognate (via assidere) to assess. The correct English form is assiduous, spelled A-S-S-I-D-U-O-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Hard-working, diligent or regular (in attendance or work); industrious.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how assiduous appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. He was officious in the right time and place, quiet as a lamb when his patron seemed inclined to study or to muse, active and assiduous to assist or divert him whenever it seemed to be wished.
  2. He died after three weeks' illness, during which Mrs. Penniman, as well as his daughter, had been assiduous at his bedside.

Etymology

A learned borrowing from Latin assiduus, from assidere (“to sit down to”), from ad- (“to”) + sedere (“to sit”). Compare sedulous. Cognate (via assidere) to assess.

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

How do you spell "assiduous"?
"assiduous" is spelled A-S-S-I-D-U-O-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈsɪdjuːəs/.
What does "assiduous" mean?
As an adjective, "assiduous" means: Hard-working, diligent or regular (in attendance or work); industrious.
How do you pronounce "assiduous"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "assiduous" is /əˈsɪdjuːəs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "assiduous"?
A learned borrowing from Latin assiduus, from assidere (“to sit down to”), from ad- (“to”) + sedere (“to sit”). Compare sedulous. Cognate (via assidere) to assess. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "assiduous", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list