Belial
/ˈbiːli.əl/
"belial" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Belial” is uncommon English (frequency #68,037 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #68,037
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha.
Corpus desk
Index EN-belial · Belial · English
Belial · rank #68,037 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #68,037
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bellicose
Nearest frequency peer: bellicose (+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 “Belial”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- Batson
Batson
31,967 corpus weight
- beanies
beanies
31,966 corpus weight
- Belial
Belial
31,964 corpus weight
- bellicose
bellicose
31,963 corpus weight
- Berner
Berner
31,962 corpus weight
- besting
besting
31,961 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Belial” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Belial |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /ˈbiːli.əl/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #68,037 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Belial” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Belial is uncommon English at frequency #68,037 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as aproper noun, transcribed /ˈbiːli.əl/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for Belial in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Latin Bĕlĭal, Hebrew בְלִיַּעַל. Of uncertain origin. It has been conventionally been interpreted as בְּלִי (“without”) + a word meaning "use" (hence "useless, worthless"), but it is unclear what the latter word is. The correct English form is Belial, spelled B-E-L-I-A-L.
Definition
- 1A wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how Belial appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Here, too, the poet calls attention to Belial's role as one who blurs the borderline between essence and appearance: Belial himself seems fair (physically attractive), but is empty inside, and Milton was surely aware that in Hebrew the first syllable of the fallen angel's name means without.
Etymology
Latin Bĕlĭal, Hebrew בְלִיַּעַל. Of uncertain origin. It has been conventionally been interpreted as בְּלִי (“without”) + a word meaning "use" (hence "useless, worthless"), but it is unclear what the latter word is.
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 "Belial"?
What does "Belial" mean?
How do you pronounce "Belial"?
What is the origin of the word "Belial"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Belial", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).