bigwig
/ˈbɪɡ.wɪɡ/
"bigwig" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bigwig” is uncommon English (frequency #89,160 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #89,160
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A person of importance in a group or organization.
Corpus desk
Index EN-bigwig · bigwig · English
bigwig · rank #89,160 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #89,160
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH Bideford
Nearest frequency peer: Bideford (-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 “bigwig”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- bice
bice
10,845 corpus weight
- bichon
bichon
10,844 corpus weight
- Bicol
Bicol
10,843 corpus weight
- Bideford
Bideford
10,842 corpus weight
- bigwig
bigwig
10,841 corpus weight
- biosensor
biosensor
10,838 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “bigwig” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bigwig |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈbɪɡ.wɪɡ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #89,160 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bigwig” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bigwig is uncommon English at frequency #89,160 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈbɪɡ.wɪɡ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A person of importance in a group or organization.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for bigwig, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: First arose in the 1730s, from big + wig. Formerly, English men of authority wore wigs. Bigwig plays on the idea that higher authority is denoted by a larger wig. The correct English form is bigwig, spelled B-I-G-W-I-G.
Definition
- 1A person of importance in a group or organization.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bigwig appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The company bigwig is gathering his staff together for a meeting today.
[…] more innocently, and no doubt profitably, than if he had dined at a big-wig's board or bemused himself with smoke and beer among his brethren of the pen.
Etymology
First arose in the 1730s, from big + wig. Formerly, English men of authority wore wigs. Bigwig plays on the idea that higher authority is denoted by a larger wig.
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 "bigwig", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).