avaricious

/ˌævəˈɹɪʃəs/

//ˌævəˈɹɪʃəs// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"avaricious" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“avaricious” is uncommon English (frequency #90,163 among 3,931 “A” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#90,163
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth or material gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.

Corpus desk

Index EN-avaricious · avaricious · English

avaricious · rank #90,163 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #90,163
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-6 6 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH atresia

Nearest frequency peer: atresia (-2 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 “avaricious”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for avaricious
PropertyValue
Headwordavaricious
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˌævəˈɹɪʃəs/
Letters10
Frequency rank#90,163
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “avaricious” 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).avariciousfalls 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: “atresia” (#90,161), “Asya” (#90,159), “awf” (#90,167). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “avaricious” is #90,163. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

avaricious is uncommon English at frequency #90,163 among 3,931 “A” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /ˌævəˈɹɪʃəs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth or material gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.".

avaricious has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English avaricious, from Old French avaricieux, from avarice, from Latin avaritia (“greed”), from avarus (“greedy”), of avere (“crave, long for”). The correct English form is avaricious, spelled A-V-A-R-I-C-I-O-U-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth or material gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

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

  1. In a word, he was called a hard, avaricious, rapacious man, whose chief business was to enrich himself...

Etymology

From Middle English avaricious, from Old French avaricieux, from avarice, from Latin avaritia (“greed”), from avarus (“greedy”), of avere (“crave, long for”).

Synonyms

greedy

This word in other languages

avaricioso(Español)avare(Français)habgierig(Deutsch)

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 "avaricious"?
"avaricious" is spelled A-V-A-R-I-C-I-O-U-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ˌævəˈɹɪʃəs/.
What does "avaricious" mean?
As an adjective, "avaricious" means: Actuated by avarice; extremely greedy for wealth or material gain; immoderately desirous of accumulating property.
How do you pronounce "avaricious"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "avaricious" is /ˌævəˈɹɪʃəs/. 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 "avaricious"?
From Middle English avaricious, from Old French avaricieux, from avarice, from Latin avaritia (“greed”), from avarus (“greedy”), of avere (“crave, long for”). 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 "avaricious", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

anticlimax#90,143Benedictus#90,195amazeballs#90,130amateurism#90,129

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list