badness
/ˈbæd.nəs/
"badness" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“badness” is an uncommon English word, ranked #54,634 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #54,634
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The quality or degree of being bad.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | badness |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbæd.nəs/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #54,634 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “badness” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for badness is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbæd.nəs/. Corpus data places it at rank #54,634 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The quality or degree of being bad.".
badness doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English baddenes, badnes, badnesse; equivalent to bad + -ness. The correct English form is badness, spelled B-A-D-N-E-S-S.
Definition
- 1The quality or degree of being bad.
Etymology
From Middle English baddenes, badnes, badnesse; equivalent to bad + -ness.
Synonyms
Antonyms
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 "badness"?
What does "badness" mean?
How do you pronounce "badness"?
What is the origin of the word "badness"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “badness”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-A-D-N-E-S-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbæd.nəs/ (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.