bigamy
/ˈbɪɡəmi/
"bigamy" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bigamy” is an uncommon English word, ranked #59,901 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #59,901
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bigamy |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɪɡəmi/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #59,901 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “bigamy” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for bigamy is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈbɪɡəmi/. Corpus data places it at rank #59,901 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for bigamy, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously, bigamy; second marriage; marrying a widow or widower”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman bigamie and Middle French bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously; second marriage; marrying a w… The correct English form is bigamy, spelled B-I-G-A-M-Y.
Definition
- 1The state of having two (legal or illegal) spouses simultaneously.
- 2A second marriage after the death of a spouse.
Etymology
From Middle English bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously, bigamy; second marriage; marrying a widow or widower”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman bigamie and Middle French bigamie (“having two spouses simultaneously; second marriage; marrying a widow or widower”) (modern French bigamie (“bigamy”)), and its etymon Late Latin bigamia (“having two spouses simultaneously; second marriage”), from Late Latin, Latin bigamus (“bigamous”) + -ia (variant of -ius (suffix forming adjectives from nouns)). Bigamus is derived from bis (“twice, two times”) + Ancient Greek γάμος (gámos, “marriage; matrimony”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ǵem- (“to marry”)). The English word is analysable as bi- + -gamy.
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.
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Using “bigamy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is B-I-G-A-M-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈbɪɡəmi/ (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.