bashful
[ˈbæʃfəɫ]
"bashful" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bashful” is uncommon English (frequency #50,375 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #50,375
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Shy; not liking to be noticed; socially timid.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bashful · bashful · English
bashful · rank #50,375 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #50,375
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH Baru
Nearest frequency peer: Baru (-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 “bashful”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- ballsy
ballsy
49,631 corpus weight
- barbarous
barbarous
49,630 corpus weight
- Baru
Baru
49,627 corpus weight
- bashful
bashful
49,626 corpus weight
- batik
batik
49,624 corpus weight
- bayless
bayless
49,622 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “bashful” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bashful |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [ˈbæʃfəɫ] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #50,375 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bashful” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bashful is uncommon English at frequency #50,375 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed [ˈbæʃfəɫ]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for bashful in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: 16th-century apheresis of abashed + -ful (“full of”). The correct English form is bashful, spelled B-A-S-H-F-U-L.
Definition
- 1Shy; not liking to be noticed; socially timid.
- 2Indicating bashfulness.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bashful appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
a bashful look
“Have you done something to your hair?” “I just ran a comb through it,” shrugged the vicar. “Well, it looks delightful.” “How delightful of you to say so.” Auntie Flip and the vicar shared bashful grins. Frank had never witnessed his babysitter behave like this before.
Etymology
16th-century apheresis of abashed + -ful (“full of”).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bashful", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).